A 



THE TRUE STORY 
OF PAUL REVERE 



k 



THE TRUE STORY 

OF 

PAUL REVE R E 

HIS MIDNIGHT RIDE 

HIS ARREST AND COURT-MARTIAL 

HIS USEFUL PUBLIC SERVICES 

BY 

CHARLES FERRIS GETTEMY 



ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1905 



ITHE LJSRARY ©F :' 
j CONGRESS; 

Two CoDies ^isnejvad •' 

SEP 2d 1905 ■ 

T Aa 



Copyright^ 1905, 
By Little, Brown, and Company. 



All rights reserved. 



Published October, 1905 






THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 



TO 

MY WIFE 



Acknowledgment 



THE thoroughness with which Mr. E. H. Goss 
several years ago examined the Revere family 
papers, and which rendered a duplication of 
that labor by subsequent historians superfluous, is en- 
titled to frank recognition. Wherever in the prep- 
aration of this volume the author has had occasion to 
quote from these manuscript documents which Mr. 
Goss first made public he has endeavored to give due 
credit to the service of that biographer whose two- 
volume memoir this little book is in no sense intended 
to supplant, though it is hoped it may fill a demand 
for a short, concise, and unbiased record of the career 
of one of the most interesting and picturesque charac- 
ters of the Revolutionary era. Other authorities 
consulted have been the Massachusetts records in the 
original manuscripts preserved in the archives of the 
commonwealth, the Proceedings of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society, the publications of the New 
England Historic-Genealogical Society, the news- 
papers, almanacs, etc., of the period covered by 
Revere's life, and authentic biographies of Revere's / 
contemporaries. 

[vii] 



Acknowledgment 



The author wishes also to acknowledge the courtesy 
of the publishers of the New England Magazine for 
permission to reproduce substantially the whole of 
his article, " The True Story of Paul Revere'*s Ride,"" 
which appeared in that periodical for April, 1902. 

C. F. G. 

BosTOK, March 1, 1905. 



[viii] 



Contents 



Page 

Foreword . . xiii 

I. The Patriotic Engraver (1735-1774) 1 
II. The Messenger of the Gathering Revo- 
lution (1773-1775) 46 

III. The Midnight Ride of April 18, 1775 72 

IV. The Citizen and Soldier (1775-1777) 125 
V. The Penobscot Scandal and Court- 

Martial of Revere (1778-1782) 173 
VI. The Man of Business after the War 

(1782-1804) 218 

VII. The Declining Years of a Useful Life 

(1795-1818) 257 



[ix] 



List of Illustrations 



Paul Revere, from the Portrait by Gilbert 

Stuart Frontispiece 

Revere's Engraving of the Boston Massacre . Page 23 

Revere's Picture of Boston in 1768 . . . . " 30 

The Hancock-Clarke Parsonage, Lexington, 

Mass '' 76 

The Old North Church '' 93 

Paul Revere's Ride. From the Painting by 

Robert Reid, in the State House, Boston .. " 102 

Pasture where Paul Revere was taken . . . "114 

A View of the Green in Lexington where the 
British Troops first fired upon the Ameri- 
cans in 1775 "119 

Facsimile of Paul Revere's Bill for Messenger 

Service "121 

General Gage's Headquarters "146 

The Old Powder Factory at Canton, Mass. . "171 

The Paul Revere House, North Square . . " 282 



[xi] 



Foreword 



BIOGRAPHIES there are in increasing 
number of great men who, from the 
council-chambers of statecraft or upon 
the floors of parliaments, have formulated 
policies, and, within the Hmits of human 
guidance, have directed the currents of the 
world's history. This little book is of a 
different sort. It is only the plain, unglossed 
record of an American patriot of humble 
origin, who, in his character and career, ex- 
emplified the traits that have from the 
earliest settlements formed the real basis of 
the civilization that came to conquer the 
western hemisphere. 

Paul Revere was not a statesman. Nor 

was he, in the usual acceptance of the term, 

even a great man. His immediate paternal 

ancestor had crossed the seas to carve out 

[ xiii ] 



Foreword 



success in the new world, and had educated 
his son in the shop and the school. The 
time was big with portentous events. The 
wonderful new ideas of the rights of man 
were causing Europe to throb with the pulse- 
beats of human liberty, and rude pioneers in 
America were unconsciously becoming the 
subjects of the same stirring emotions. Men 
like Otis, Hancock, Warren, and the Adamses 
soon began to disturb the peace by agitating 
against the abstract tyrannies of the mother 
country, and wherever they blazed the way 
they found ready and willing followers. 
Revere was one of the latter. He had the 
keen zest of the citizen whose patriotism is 
of the lusty type that causes him to wish to 
take an active part in all movements that 
make for civic progress, and civic progress 
from 1760 to the Revolution meant enlight- 
ened resistance to British parliamentary 
aggression. 

He was, as has just been said, a follower ; 

but if he was not by virtue of natural ability 

or Harvard College education capable of 

taking a place around the council boards of 

[xiv] 



Foreword 



statesmen, he recognized the part he was 
fitted to play, and he generally played it well. 
If he could not rise to a seat in the legislature, 
he could succeed in getting elected a fire- 
ward in the town of Boston ; and if he could 
not acquire the eminence of the bench, he 
was at least not to be condemned to the 
commonplace lot of one who had never 
crossed the threshold of a court, for his un- 
bridled temper caused him on one occasion to 
be arrested and fined for assault. To his 
country and the cause of liberty he rendered 
patriotic, useful service, sharing the hard- 
ships which the Continental Army every- 
where endured in the war; and in his 
financial dealings with the government he 
hardly ever failed to send in bills for work 
performed which the authorities deemed ex- 
travagant charges and pruned down accord- 
ingly. Yet he coupled with such thrifty 
business traits, which enabled him to die rich, 
a restive, pugnacious temperament that was 
probably responsible for some personal enmi- 
ties and may have caused him to chafe under 
discipline when serving under the military 

[XV] 



Foreword 



command of superiors. Indeed, he had to 
endure the humihation, in the closing years 
of the Revolution, of an arrest for cowardice 
and disobedience to orders, and a trial by 
court-martial. The author, however, hastens 
to assure the reader to whom this little-known 
episode in Revere's career may come as a 
shocking revelation that the hero of the 
midnight ride came through this fiery ex- 
perience with a tardy acquittal to his credit, 
and his reputation does not appear to have 
been substantially damaged by it. He after- 
wards participated in numerous public- 
spirited movements, and at the age of eighty 
headed a list of one hundred and fifty North 
End mechanics who signified their willing- 
ness to perform manual labor in throwing up 
fortifications to keep the British out of 
Boston. 

Most men like Revere — somewhat above 
the average of the mass, but not possessing 
the usual elements of enduring fame — pass 
out of life eulogized by their fellow-citizens ; 
remembered by a circle of admiring and re- 
specting friends until they also pass away; 
[xvi] 



Foreword 



and are ultimately forgotten, finding no place 
upon the pages of written history. Paul 
Revere was rescued from this fate by an 
accident, — the witchery of a poet's imagina- 
tion. His famous ride on the night of the 
18th of April, 1775, remained unsung, if not 
unhonored, for eighty-eight years, or until 
Longfellow, in 1863, made it the text for his 
Landlord's Tale in the Wayside Inn. Some 
one signing himself " Eb. Stiles " had, to be 
sure, written a poem about 1795 which he 
called the " Story of the Battle of Concord 
and Lexington, and Revere's Ride Twenty 
Years Ago," and in which he said : 

He spared neither horse, nor whip, nor spur. 
As he galloped through mud and mire ; 

He thought of naught but liberty 
And the lanterns that hung from the spire. 

But Stiles did nothing else in a literary way 
to perpetuate his name, and he failed to find 
a publisher capable of rescuing his verses 
from obscurity. 

It is to Longfellow's simple and tuneful 
ballad that most persons undoubtedly owe 
[ xvii ] 



Foreword 



their knowledge of the fact that a man of 
the name of Revere really did something on 
the eve of the historic skirmish at Lexington 
which is worth remembering. The true 
character of Revere's services, both on the 
occasion of this particular ride, and during 
the period preceding, has been a matter of 
comparatively recent recognition. Bancroft 
mentions the incident of Revere's ride in the 
edition of his history published in 1858 ; 
Hildreth says the alarm had been given, 
without mentioning Revere's name ; Palfrey, 
whose History of New England is brought 
down to the battle of Bunker Hill, says : 
" They [the British] were watched and, by 
signals before agreed upon, the movement 
was made known to the people on the other 
side." He does not allude to Revere. From 
the majesty of the closing lines of the poem 

For, borne on the night- wind of the past. 
Through all our history, to the last. 
In the hour of darkness and peril and need. 
The people will waken and listen to hear 
The hurrying hoof-beats of the steed. 
And the midnight message of Paul Revere. 
[ xviii ] 



Foreword 



it might seem that we are indebted to Long- 
fellow for some instinctive appreciation of 
the historic significance of the episode inde- 
pendent of its poetic value. 

But poetry and history sometimes become 
sadly enmeshed, and the language in which 
such a combination is clothed often remains 
fixed and is finally accepted as a record of 
fact. It is one of the missions of poetry and 
fiction to give glimpses of things in the in- 
tellectual and physical worlds, and an insight 
into the beginnings of great movements in 
history which vast numbers of people could 
get in no other way. It ought not, there- 
fore, to be improper or impertinent to inquire 
whether the poet and romancist, in so far as 
they deal with historic events and personages 
and with matters of verifiable record, might 
not find it possible to hew with greater 
fidelity, sometimes, to truth, without in any 
degree detracting from the poetic quality or 
interfering seriously with that license whose 
exercise may be essential to artistic literary 
expression. Such an inquiry is suggested in 
the once common tendency of historical 
[xix] 



Foreword 



narrative to draw upon poetry for embellish- 
ment and for the stimulation of a certain 
human interest in a story which otherwise 
might possibly make dull reading. 

Upon how many thousands of schoolboys 
who have declaimed the stirring lines of 
Longfellow's description of Paul Revere's 
ride, and upon how many thousands, too, of 
their elders has the picture drawn by the 
poet left its indelible impression ? Certainly 
it is the sum and substance of all their 
knowledge of the subject to hundreds of 
visitors who, every summer, wander through 
those old, narrow streets of the North End 
of Boston and gaze with reverence upon the 
graceful spire of Christ Church. The stone 
tablet^ placed in the wall of the tower by 

^ The proposition for the placing of this tablet, when, 
brought forward in the Boston city government, precipi- 
tated a lively controversy. The right of Christ Church 
to the honor in question was stoutly challenged, it being 
urged that Revere's own allusion to the North Church 
steeple probably referred to another North Church 
located at that time elsewhere in the vicinity. The 
allegation was met and exhaustively examined by 
William W. Wheildon, and his views, which are in ac- 

[XX] 



Foreword 



order of the city government in 1878 tells 
them that 

THE SIGNAL LANTERNS OF 

PAUL REVERE 

DISPLAYED IN THE STEEPLE OF 

THIS CHURCH 

APRIL 18, 1775, 

WARNED THE COUNTRY OF THE 

MARCH OF THE BRITISH TROOPS 

TO LEXINGTON AND CONCORD 

From the summit of Copp's Hill, in the 
ancient burial ground near by, surrounded 
by tombstones marked by indentations 
which the guide-books say were caused by 
Revolutionary bullets, one may look across 
the mouth of the Charles, opening just at the 

cordance with the tradition in favor of Christ Church, 
are now generally accepted. Another claim brought 
forward at about the same time, to the effect that 
Revere' s friend whom he selected to display the signals 
was one John Pulling, likewise deserves to be rejected. 
Revere has not left us the name of his friend, but a mass 
of traditionary evidence supports the belief that he was 
Robert Newman, the sexton of the church. Many of 
the parishioners were loyal to their Church of England 
instincts and adhered to the King's cause, but Newman 
was a consistent and fervent American patriot, 
[xxi] 



Foreword 



foot of the height into the harbor, and — 
shutting out from present view the ugly 
grain elevators, the black coal wharves, the 
masts of the ships, and Charlestown's brick 
walls beyond — try to conjure up the vision 
of the poet's fancy : the stout-hearted mes- 
senger of the Revolution ferried across the 
stream under the shadow of the forbidding 
man-of-war Somerset, his safe landing on the 
opposite shore, his impatient and fretful 
slapping of his horse's side as he stands 
booted and spurred and strains his eyes for a 
glimpse of the signal rays from the steeple 
of the old church ; then the ride out through 
the villages and farms of Middlesex until, in 
the lines of the poet, — 

It was two by the village clock. 

When he came to the bridge in Concord town. 

It may seem a pity to mar this work of 
art by the homely daubs of fact ; yet a faith- 
ful limning of the scene as it was really en- 
acted would necessitate some retouching. 
It ought not to be difficult to do this without 
in any essential respect spoiling the liveliness 
or romantic spirit of the picture. To be 
[ xxii ] 



Foreword 



sure, the poet's statement that Revere reached 
Concord was long ago shown to have been 
incorrect ; but its persistent viriHty only- 
goes to prove that truth is not the only thing 
which, crushed to earth, will rise again. The 
impression, however, is yet more common 
that the signal lanterns were placed in the 
North Church steeple forRevere's benefit, and 
that he waited on the Charlestown shore for 
the message they were to convey before he 
was able to start on his journey. The facts 
are that Revere had all the desired informa- 
tion before he left Boston, and that the lights 
were hung out at his instance as a warning 
to others, who might know by them the 
necessity of arousing the country in the 
event of his capture while being rowed across 
the river. 

Almost all of the accounts that have been 
published in popular histories and school 
text-books of the hanging of the lanterns, 
those written both before and since Long- 
fellow's poem appeared, are curiously inac- 
curate. John Stetson Barry in his History 
of Massachusetts, published in 1856,^ makes 

^ p. 509. [ xxiii ] 



Foreword 



an allusion to Revere saying : " A lantern 
was displayed by Paul Revere in the upper 
window of the tower of the North Church in 
Boston" ; and George Lowell Austin in his 
History of Massachusetts, published twenty 
years after Barry's work, copies the latter 's 
statement.^ Even John Fiske, usually as 
accurate in detail as he is safe in his general- 
izations, did not take Revere's narrative as 
his authority, else he would hardly have 
said^ : ** Crossing the broad river in a little 
boat under the very guns of the Somerset 
man-of-war and waiting on the farther bank 
until he learned from a lantern suspended in 
the belfj^y ^ of the North Church which way 
the troops had gone, Revere took horse," 
etc. The looseness with which Lossing al- 
lowed himself to write is nowhere more ap- 
parent than in his allusions to this historic 
episode. In his Pictorial Field-Book of the 
Revolution^ he says: **Paul Revere and 

1 p. 300. 

2 The American Revolution, Vol I, p. 121. 
^ Italics are mine. — C. F. G. 

* Vol. I, p. 523. 

[ xxiv] 



Foreword 



William Dawes had just rowed across the 
river to Charlestown with a message from 
Warren to Hancock and Adams at Lexing- 
ton." Dawes, of course, did not accompany 
Revere, and Lossing, in Our Country,^ cor- 
rects himself in this respect, but still, serenely 
careless of his assertions, says : " William 
Dawes had gone over the Neck to Roxbury 
on horseback with a message from Warren to 
Hancock and Adams, and Warren and 
Revere were at Charlestown awaiting de- 
velopments of events." Such a statement 
can be reconciled with itself only upon the 
supposition that A^^arren, after despatching 
Dawes, went over to Charlestown and there 
joined Revere, — a proposition purely gra- 
tuitous. Lossing not unnaturally also follows 
other writers in giving the impression that 
Revere engaged a friend "to give him a 
timely signal " from the North Church, when, 
as a matter of fact. Revere personally had 
no use whatever for such a signal. 

But it so happens that we have the highest 
possible authority upon which to rely for an 

ip. 775. 

[ XXV ] 



Foreword 



account of the events of that night. Revere 
himself was not so modest and self-effacing as 
to fall short of appreciating, at something 
like its full value, the importance of his ser- 
vices to the cause of liberty on the 18th of 
April, 1775 ; and posterity, fortunately, has a 
circumspect and detailed narrative of his 
movements on that occasion written down 
by himself One must not, indeed, forget 
that the real worth of personal reminiscences, 
as authority for history, is frequently a mat- 
ter of doubt, and that inaccurate statements, 
due to a treacherous memory or a faulty 
perspective, are common occurrences in auto- 
biographies. But when there is no indis- 
putable and unprejudiced record that can 
be cited to controvert an autobiographical 
narration, and when there is no reason to 
doubt the truthful purpose of the author, 
such an account is entitled to stand, and 
does stand, as an authority outranking all 
others. 

Revere's own story of his midnight ride, 
though written after a lapse of several years, 

has this quality. None of its assertions in 
[ xxvi ] 



Foreword 



all the warfare of antiquarians and pamphle- 
teers has been successfully refuted; and no 
one can read it now without a conscious 
feeling that here, indeed, is a document from 
the historic past which will preserve a 
patriot's fame from the iconoclasm of the 
modern investigator, even though it may 
itself make a little iconoclastic havoc among 
poets and romancers. 

The historian who likes to select for his 
chronicles only those deeds which may be 
pleasing to his sense of patriotism may well 
be pardoned for ignoring the ill-starred 
Penobscot Expedition, despatched in the 
summer of 1779 by the Massachusetts 
Council against the British on the coast of 
Maine. It was an episode of the Revolution 
entirely out of the current of great events, 
and it cannot be ascertained that it had the 
slightest influence upon them. It resulted 
in disaster so complete, so utterly without 
excuse, and so thoroughly discreditable to 
American arms as to make its contempla- 
tion without feelings of shame and humilia- 
tion impossible. An overwhelming force of 
[ xxvii ] 



Foreword 



Colonial troops, through the clear cowardice 
of an admiral bearing the proud name of 
Saltonstall, allowed itself to be frightened 
into ignominious and panic-stricken desertion 
of its post of duty by a ridiculously ill- 
equipped enemy. The ensuing scandal be- 
smirched reputations hitherto untarnished, 
and the State of Massachusetts was plunged, 
on account of the expedition, into a debt of 
nearly a million and three-quarters pounds 
sterling. Commodore Saltonstall is sup- 
posed to have been court-martialled and 
cashiered ; General Lovell, who commanded 
the land forces, was acquitted only after a 
searching inquiry ; and Paul Revere was 
arrested on charges of cowardice, censured, 
after an investigation, court-martialled, and 
at length, as the result of his own persistence, 
was grudgingly acquitted. 

This dubious episode is scarcely mentioned 
in the Revolutionary histories, but it was a 
serious event in Revere's life and came near 
stripping him of the laurels he had won by 
his earlier exploits in the patriot cause. 
Even now, while we are disposed to cast the 
[ xxviii ] 



Foreword 



mantle of charity over his conduct and ac- 
cept his own explanations at face value, it 
must be confessed that it is not possible to 
extract the exact truth from the official 
records and to render a wholly disinterested 
and impartial verdict upon the facts that 
have come down to us. These are therefore 
laid herewith before the reader : let him 
judge for himself. 



[ xxix ] 



The True Story of 
Paul Revere 



I — THE PATRIOTIC ENGRAVER 

1735-1774 

PAUL REVERE was born in Boston 
December 21, 1734, O. S. (January 
1, 1735, N. S.). His father, for 
whom he was named, had come to this 
country from the isle of Guernsey to learn 
the goldsmith's trade, and in 1723, after a 
visit to his boyhood home, had returned to 
America, determined to settle here for life. 
Paul, Sr., was a Frenchman, and at 
birth was christened ApoUos Rivoire. His 
father's name was Isaac, and his mother's, 
Serenne Lambert. Isaac's parents, Jean 
and Magdelaine Rivoire, were of that 
heroic Huguenot band who were forced to 
flee their native land after the revocation 
of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. in 
1685. Simon, Isaac's eldest brother, emi- 
1 [1] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

grated iSrst to Holland and then to Guern- 
sey, and it was to him that the lad ApoUos 
was sent at the age of thirteen. A hundred 
years later the American grandson received 
this copy of a record made by the careful 
Isaac : 

" Apollos Rivoire our son was born the 
thirtieth of November, 1702, about ten 
o'clock at night, and was baptized at Rian- 
caud, France. Apollos Rivoire my brother 
was his Godfather and Anne Maulmon, my 
sister-in-law, his Godmother. He set out 
for Guernsey the 21st of November, 1715." 

About the first thing young Apollos did 
after deciding to settle down in Boston 
permanently was to Anglicize his name, 
and, for reasons of euphony and conven- 
ience, he called himself henceforth Paul 
Revere. Six years after he had begun to 
fashion gold and silver plate and orna- 
ments for the people of Boston he had 
amassed a sufficient competency to warrant 
him in marrying, and so, June 19, 1729, 
[2] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

he took for his wife Deborah Hichborn, 
born in Boston January 29, 1704/ Twelve 
children w^ere born to this union, among 
them him who was to be known to history 
as the messenger of the Revolution. 

Young Paul was put to school under 
Master John Tileston, who for eighty years 
was connected with the North Grammar 
School on North Bennet Street, and about 
whose name and fame as a teacher cluster 
many interesting tales and much of the 
romance of the old North End during its 
eighteenth-century prosperity. When Re- 
vere left his school-books it was to graduate 
at once into his father's shop, where he 
quickly learned the trade, or, to speak more 
accurately, the art, of the gold and sil- 
ver smith, for he proved quite as skilled 
in drawing and designing patterns for 
pitchers, ewers, tankards, spoons, braisers, 
mugs, etc., as in the actual mechanical work 
of manufacturing them. 

^ Paul Revere, the elder, died in Boston January 22, 
1754 ; his wife died in 1777. 

[3] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

In 1756 he had his first military expe- 
rience, being then twenty-one years old. 
This was in the expedition against Crown 
Point, in which he held a commission from 
Governor William Shirley as a second lieu- 
tenant in the artillery. The service, how- 
ever, proved uneventful. It continued for 
six months, the troops being stationed at 
Fort William Henry, Lake George, from 
May till November, when the fall of Forts 
Oswego and Ontario compelled the little 
band to retire to a place of safety, and, 
shortly after, to abandon the enterprise 
entirely. 

The summer following this service Re- 
vere married, Sarah Orne (born in Boston 
April 2, 1736) becoming his bride on the 
17th of August, 1757. From that time 
forward he took an increasing and a prom- 
inent part in the political life of the time, 
and on one occasion, at least, his pugnacious 
disposition got him into the police court, 
where he had to pay a fine and be bound 
over to keep the peace. The record of this 
[4] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

affair/ which came under the jurisdiction 
of Richard Dana, one of His Majesty's 
justices of the peace for Suffolk County, 
runs : 

"1761, May 11. Tho« Fosdick compl* 
ag^ Paul Revere for assaulting & beating 
y^ complain^ as by y^ war^ on file. Def* 
pleads not guilty, after a full hearing it 
appears he is guilty. Jud that he pay a 
fine of C|8, to y^ king & pay costs tax'd at 
12|9 & be bound to keep y® peace & be of 
good behav^ until y^ next gen^ Sessions &c 
himself in <£10. with 2 Sureties in £5. each, 
standing convict*^ till perform'^." 

This entry is endorsed: 

"1761 May 11. Paul Revere principal, 
recog^ in £10. NatW Fosdick hatter & 
Joshua Bracket copper-smith both of Bos- 
ton Sureties in £5. each to keep y^ peace 

^ Copied from a blank-book belonging to Judge Dana, 
in the possession of his great-great-granddaughter, Eliz- 
abeth EUery Dana of Cambridge. — Goss' Life of Revere j 
Vol. 2, p. 667. 

[5] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

& be of good behav^ until y^ next Court of 
gen^ Sessions &e according to y^ jud. on y^ 
other side recorded." 

But for the most part Revere was no 
doubt a law-abiding citizen. He was cer- 
tainly an industrious one, and increased his 
income from his regular business by turn- 
ing his mechanical skill to account in many 
ingenious ways. He even tried dentistry, 
as appears from an advertisement in the 
Boston Gazette and Country Journal:'^ 

"WHEREAS, many Persons are so 
unfortunate as to lose their Fore-Teeth by 
Accident, and otherways, to their great 
Detriment, not only in Looks, but speaking 
both in Public and Private : — This is to 
inform all such, that they may have them 
re-placed with artificial Ones, that looks as 
well as the Natural & answers the End of 
Speaking to all Intents, by PAUL RE- 
VERE, Goldsmith near the head of Dr. 
Clarke's Wharf, Boston. 

^ Issue of September 19, 1768. 

[6] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

" ^^^ All Persons who have had false 
Teeth fixt by Mr. John Baker, Surgeon 
Dentist, and they have got loose (as they 
will in Time) may have them fastened by 
the above who learnt the Method of fixing 
them from Mr. Baker." 

Another advertisement which appeared in 
the same journal two years later ^ conveys 
a succinct account of Revere's professional 
skill: 

" ARTIFICIAL TEETH 
' PAUL REVERE 

" Takes this IMethod of returning his most 
Sincere Thanks to the Gentlemen and 
Ladies who have Employed him in the care 
of their Teeth he would now inform them 
and all others, who are so unfortunate as 
to lose their Teeth by accident or other- 
ways, that he still continues the Business 
of a Dentist, and flatters himself that 
from the Experience he has had these 

^ Issue of July 30, 1770. 
[T] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Two years (in which time he has fixt some 
Hundreds of Teeth) that he can fix them 
as well as any Surgeon-Dentist who ever 
came from London, he fixes them in such a 
Manner that they are not only an Orna- 
ment, but of real Use in Speaking and Eat- 
ing; He cleanses the Teeth and will wait 
on any Gentleman or Lady at their Lodg- 
ings, he may be spoke with at his shop oppo- 
site Dr. Clark's at the North End where the 
Gold and Silversmith's Business is carried 
on in all its Branches." 

An instance of Revere's dentistry came 
to light and served an important purpose 
when in 1776, after the evacuation of Bos- 
ton, General Joseph Warren's body was ex- 
humed by his friends from its unmarked 
burial place on Bunker Hill for the purpose 
of proper interment.^ The brothers of 

^ Article by General William H. Sumner, New Eng- 
land Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 12, p. 11 9. 
Warren's body was reinterred in the Old Granary Burial 
Ground under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of 
Masons. Perez Morton delivered the oration, and Revere 

[8] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

General Warren and his physician were re- 
inforced in their identification of the body- 
by Revere, who had set an artificial tooth 
for the general, and who testified that he 
recognized the wire he used in fastening it. 
But it was as an engraver on copper that 
Revere saw an opportunity for his skill as 
a draftsman to find perhaps its most con- 
genial outlet, since the exciting political 
events of the time readily lent themselves 
to pictorial treatment, and in a period long 
before the days of illustrated newspapers 
could be turned to good financial account. 
By 1765 his reputation as a clever, if some- 
what crude, caricaturist was established. 
In that year he brought out an elaborate 
allegorical expression of the sentiments of 
the patriots incensed over the Stamp Act. 
This odious piece of legislation was per- 
sonified by a dragon, in front of which stood 
a man with drawn sword, representing 
Boston. New York, Rhode Island, New 

was designated by the lodge to convey its thanks to 
the orator for his effort. 

[9] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

Hampshire, Virginia, and the other colonies 
are portrayed crowding to the front and 
backing up Hampden, while the treacher- 
ous Pym lies prostrate on the ground 
beneath the dragon's claws. Behind the 
monster an officer of the Crown is seen 
dangling from a branch of the Liberty 
Tree.^ Accompanying the picture is an 
explanatory bit of pompous verse which 
reveals Revere's ambition to indulge in lit- 
erary composition, an ambition productive 
of results quite as ornate and wonderful 
as ever came of his skill as an engraver: 

America ! see thy freebom sons advance 
And at thy Tyrant point the threatne Lance ! 
Who with grim Horror opes his Hell-like Jaws, 
And MAGNA CHART A grasps between his Claws. 
Lo BOSTON brave ! unstain'd by Placemen's Bribe 
' Attack the Monster and his venal Tribe.' 
See loyal Hampden to his Country true. 
Present his Weapon to the odious Crew ; 

^ The " Liberty Tree," an elm beneath whose spread- 
ing limbs the patriots used to hold informal meetings, 
stood near the corner of what are now Washington and 
Essex Streets. 

[10] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

See 'fore him prostrate treacherous PYM doth fall 
And A-Sejanus loud for Mercy call ! 
Whilst brave RHODE ISLAND & NEW YORK support, 
HAMPDEN and FREEDOM, in their brave Effort : 
Front to VIRGINIA, bold NEW HAMPSHIRE stands 
All firmly sworn to shake off slavish Bands 
And each united Province faithful joins 
Against the Monster and his curst designs, 

Mounted aloft perfidious H k you see. 

Scorned by his Country, fits the Rope & Tree ; 
This be the real Fate ! a fittest Place 
For Freedom's Foes a selfish scornful Race ! 
^ Above behold where Spite & Envy squirt 
Their VENOM on the Heads they cannot hurt ; 
But lo MINERVA with her Spear and Shield' 
Appears with Hopes to make the Harpies yield. 

The news of the repeal of the Stamp Act 
reached Boston May 16, 1766, having 
been brought by Captain Shubael Coffin 
of the brigantine Harrison. There was 
great rejoicing, which took the form of a 
general demonstration, cannon being dis- 
charged, bells rung, the streets filled with 
processions, while music and bonfires added 
to the gayety. A more formal celebration, 
which took place on the 19th, reached a cli- 
max in an illumination of the town and a 

[111 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

great display of fireworks on the Common 
at night. A conspicuous feature of the 
affair was an obehsk designed by Revere, 
which was set up on the Common, but which 
it was intended should be removed after the 
celebration and placed under the Liberty 
Tree, there to remain as a permanent me- 
morial. During the jubilation, however, 
the obelisk unfortunately caught fire and 
was destroyed. But its architect had 
thoughtfully preserved its outlines in a 
copper-plate engraving, which not only 
pictured the monument but reproduced the 
inscriptions composed for its four sides. 
They made an interesting complement to 
the allegorical picture and verses of the 
preceding year. Across the top of the 
plate is written: " A VIEW of the OBE- 
LISK erected under LIBERTY-TREE 
in Boston on the Rejoicings for the Repeal 
of the Stamp Act 1766," and across the 
bottom: "To every Lover of LIBERTY 
this Plate is humbly dedicated by her true 
born SONS in BOSTON, New England." 
[12] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

The sketch on the first of the four sides of 
the obeHsk, as portrayed on the copper 
plate, represents America in the form of 
an Indian recumbent under a tree and an 
angel of Liberty hovering overhead; the 
devil is seen flying towards America with 
the Stamp Act in his claws, while the Prime 
Minister, surrounded by his parliamentary 
supporters, approaches, bearing a chain. 
This picture is entitled " America in dis- 
tress, apprehending the total loss of LIB- 
ERTY," and above it are these fervid 
lines : 

O thou, whom next to Heav'n we most revere 
Fair LIBERTY ! thou lovely Goddess hear ! 
Have we not woo'd thee, won thee, held thee long. 
Lain in thy lap & melted on thy Tongue. 
Thro Death & Dangers rugged paths pursu'd 
And led thee smiHng to this SOLITUDE. 
Hid thee within our Hearts most golden Cell 
And brav'd the Powers of Earth & Powers of Hell. 
GODDESS ! we cannot part, thou must not fly ; 
Be SLAVES ! we dare to Scorn it — dare to die. 

The second picture portrays America be- 
seeching the aid of friends, whose leader is 
[13] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

being crowned by Fame, while a thunder- 
cloud is bursting over the head of the 
retreating ministers; the accompanying 
legend explains that " She [America] im- 
plores the aid of her PATRONS." This 
is the verse: 

While clanking Chains & Curses shall salute 
Thine Ears remorseless G le/ thine O B e ^ 



To you blest PATRIOTS ! we our Cause submitt 
niustrious CAMDEN ! Britains Guardian PITT. 
Recede not, frown not, rather let us be 
Depriv'd of being, than of LIBERTY. 
Let fraud or malice blacken all our Crimes 
No disaffection stains these peaceful Climes ; 
O save us, shield us from impending Woes 
The foes of Britain, only are our Foes. 

The third sketch represents the Liberty 
Tree with an eagle in its topmost branches 
feeding her young, v^^hile an angel is seen 
approaching and bearing an aegis. " She 
endures the Conflict for a short season " is 
the rather commonplace inscription below. 
The descriptive verse reads : 

Boast foul Oppression, boast thy transient Reign 
While honest FREEDOM stniggles with her Chain ; 

1 Granville. ^ gute. 

[14] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

But know the Sons of Virtue, hardy, brave. 
Disdain to lose thro' mean Dispair to save 
Arrouz'd in Thunder, awfull they appear 
With proud deUverance stalking in their Rear 
While Tyrant-Foes their pallid Fears betray 
Shrink from their Arms, & give their Vengeance way. 
See in th' unequal War OPPRESSORS fall 
The hate, contempt, and endless Curse of all. 

The fourth, and last, in this series of 
caricatures portrays King George the Third 
in the guise of a Dutch widow introducing 
America to the Goddess of Liberty, or as 
the engraver explains, " And has her LIB- 
ERTY restored by the Royal hand of 
GEORGE the Third." This final scene in 
the Stamp Act drama, showing the king in 
the gracious act of restoring the liberties 
he had taken away from his subjects, is 
celebrated with bombastic loyalty in this 
fashion : 

Our FAITH approved, our LIBERTY restor'd. 
Our Hearts bend grateful to our Sover'gn Lord ; 
Hail darling Monarch ! by this act endear'd 
Our firm affections are thy best reward 
Sh'd Britain's self, against herself devide. 
And hostile Armies frown on either Side, 
[16] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Sli'd Hosts rebellious shake our Brunsv/ick's Throne 

And as they dar'd thy Parent, dare the Son, 

To this Asylum stretch thine happy Wing 

And we '11 contend, who best shall love our KING. 

Each of the four sides of the obehsk 
bears, besides the caricatures and the verse, 
pictures of British worthies, which are con- 
ceived as appropriate in connection with 
the sentiment expressed by the hnes/ 

Another of Revere's caricatures, and one 
that attracted quite as much attention as the 
Stamp Act series, and had a wide sale, was 
put out in 1768. It was entitled "The 
Rescinders," and commemorated one of the 
many incidents of the stirring years when 
the Revolution was incubating, and which 
temporarily threw the community into ex- 
citement, but which have for the most part 
been obscured by the more momentous 
events of the time. The General Court, 

^ See pp. 145-147, Vol. 1, Dealings with the Dead, 
a miscellaneous collection of reminiscences and curious 
historical facts which appeared originally in the Boston 
Transcript, but was subsequently published in book 
form. Lucius Manlius Sargent was the author. 

[16] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

February 11, 1768, passed, by a large 
majority, certain resolutions authorizing 
the sending of a circular letter to the sev- 
eral colonial assemblies. The alarming 
state of affairs impending in the relations 
of the colonies with the mother country 
formed the text for this action, and it was 
proposed that a system of committees of 
correspondence be established in order to 
promote the crystallization of public opin- 
ion. This gave, as might have been ex- 
pected, great umbrage to the King, and 
His ^lajesty directed Lord Hillsborough 
to order Governor Bernard, as soon as the 
General Court should convene, to have the 
House of Representatives rescind its vote 
and, in addition, to declare its "disappro- 
bation of and dissent to that rash and hasty 
proceeding." ^ This humiliating action 
must be taken under pain of the assembly's 

^ New England Magazine, Vol. 3 (1832), p. 308. 
Letter of Lord Hillsborough to Governor Bernard, 
April 22, 1768. Journal, House of Representatives of 
Massachusetts Bay, June 21, 1768, pp. 68-69- Also, 

2 [17] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

being immediately dissolved. The gover- 
nor complied with Lord Hillsborough's in- 
structions, sending a message in accordance 
therewith to the General Court on the 21st 
of June. The committee to which the 
matter was referred reported against com- 
plying with the King's demand, whereupon, 
June 30, it was put to a vote of the 
House. Seventeen members voted in favor 
of rescinding and ninety-two against, and 
the governor at once dissolved the rebellious 
assembly. The courageous independence 
of the great majority met, of course, with 
popular approval, while the seventeen " re- 
scinders '' brought upon themselves the 
indignant jeers of all good patriots.^ 

Journal, pp. 72, 75, 91-96; and MS. Court Records, 
in Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 27 (1767-1768), pp. 
362, 372-373, 382, 392-398. 

^ These seventeen rescinders were : William Brown 
of Salem, Peter Frye of Salem, Richard Saltonstall of 
Haverhill, John Calef of Ipswich, Jacob Fowle of Mar- 
blehead, Jonathan Bliss of Springfield, Israel Williams 
of Hatfield, Jonathan Ashley of West Deerfield, Joseph 
Root of Sunderland, John Ashley of Sheffield, Timothy 
Ruggles of Hardwick, Jonathan Sayward of York, John 
[18] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

Revere*s engraving portrayed these sev- 
enteen gentlemen being thrust into the 
maw of a monstrous creature having the 
wide-open jaws of a shark, the Hon. Tim- 
othy Ruggles being at the head of the 
company. Ruggles, displaying some hesi- 
tancy about entering the cavernous mouth 
of the monster shooting forth flames, is 
urged on by a little winged devil who is seen 
coming down upon him, a pitchfork in his 
claws, and crying, " Push on, Tim." The 
whole crowd is also being urged forward 
by another devil, who is exclaiming in high 
glee: "Now I've got you. A fine haul, 
by Jove." In the background is seen the 
cupola of the Province House, the residence 
of the governor. Altogether it is a very 
lively print, and it bore a title quite in keep- 
ing with its subject. It was inscribed: " A 
WARM PLACE — HELL." While 

Chadwick of Tyringhara, Josiah Edson of Bridgewater, 
Chillingsworth Foster of Harwich, William Jernigan of 
Edgartown, Mathew Mayhew of Chilmark. Journal, 
House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay, June 
30, 1768, p. 89. 

[19] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

Revere was at work upon this engraving, 
Dr. Benjamin Church happened into his 
shop and volunteered to write a verse to 
accompany it.^ Taking pen and ink, the 
appreciative doctor wrote underneath the 
picture : 

On brave Rescinders ! to yon yawning cell. 
Seventeen such miscreants there will startle Hell 
There puny Villains, damned for petty sin, 
On such distinguished Scoundrels gaze and grin ; 
The out-done Devil will resign his sway ; 
He never curst his millions in a day. 

^ " A copy of this print fell by accident, many years 
ago, into the hands of a gentleman of our acquaintance, 
who required the particulars respecting it of Colonel 
Revere. The Colonel was then eighty years of age, 
and observed he had not seen a copy of it for many 
years, — was pleased to find that one was in preserva- 
tion — and offered to buy it. He said he was a young 
man, zealous in the cause of liberty, when he sketched 
it, and had forgotten many of the circumstances ; but 
this he did remember, that while he was doing it, the 
famous Dr. Church came into his shop, and, seeing what 
he was about, took a pen and wrote the following lines 
[given in the text above] as an accompaniment. The 
Colonel then delivered them with much energy, exactly 
as they are on the print." — Netv England Magazine 
(1832), Vol. 3, p. 309. 

[20] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

The ninety-two representatives who re- 
fused to obey the King's orders to rescind 
the resolutions were duly rewarded by being 
presented by fifteen of the Sons of Liberty 
with a handsome silver punch bowl,^ the 

^ The bowl, nearly six inches in depth and eleven 
in diameter, was made to hold about a gallon. The 
inscription read : 

" To the memory of the glorious, NINETY-TWO 
Members of the Honl. House of Representatives of the 
MASSACHUSETTS BAY, who undaunted by the in- 
solent Menaces of Villains in Power, from a strict regard 
to Conscience and the Liberties of their Constituents, 
on the 30th of June, 1768, Voted NOT TO RESCIND." 

A small wreath on the opposite side of the bowl 
encircles the words : 

" No. 45 
WILKES AND LIBERTY" 

— an allusion to the English agitator, whose famous 
Number 45 of his paper, the North Briton, had contained 
a vindication of the course pursued by the colonies. 
Representations of standards bearing the words " Magna 
Charta " and " Bill of Rights," and of a torn piece of a 
warrant such as gave authority to search houses, also 
adorn the bowl. For farther details, see Massachusetts 
Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 13 (1873-1875), 
p. 200. Also, Benjamin F. Stevens' pamphlet The 
[21] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

handiwork of Paul Revere, whose name is 
modestly stamped underneath. 

Probably the best known of Revere's 
copper-plate engravings, because the most 
generally reproduced, is his view of " The 
BLOODY MASSACRE perpetrated in 
King-Street, BOSTON, on March 5^^ 
1770, by a party of the 29^^^ REG^ " But 
the painful fact must be recorded that 
Revere is under grave suspicion of having 
in this instance appropriated the work of 
another. The basis of this charge is the 
following letter ^ written to Revere by 

Silver Punch Bowl, etc., reprinted from the Boston Herald 
of January 20, 1895. 

^ " Some Pelham-Copley Letters/' by Paul Leicester 
Ford in The Atlantic Monthly, April, 1893. Pelham and 
John S. Copley were among the Americans sojourning 
in London whose actions during this period were being 
watched by the British authorities. " To what extent," 
says Mr. Ford, ^^ suspicion was attached to them, it is 
now impossible to say, but it certainly went so far as 
to lead these two men to turn over their private papers 
to the government." Among these papers was this 
letter which Mr. Ford found in the Public Record 
Office, London, in a bundle labelled " America and the 
[22] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

Henry Pelham, a contemporary engraver 
and miniaturist: 

"Boston, March 29, 1770. 

"SIR: 

" When I heard that you was cutting a 
plate of the late Murder, I thought it im- 
possible as I knew you was not capable of 
doing it unless you coppied it from mine 
and as I thought I had intrusted it in the 
hands of a person who had more regard to 
the dictates of Honour and Justice than 

West Indies, 449." Either the Revere letter, which 
was dated at Boston, was for some reason never actually 
sent by its author, being carried by him to London ; or 
the letter found in London was a copy which Pelham 
had preserved of the original. 

In a paper entitled "Christian Remick, an Early 
Boston Artist," read at a meeting of the Club of Odd 
Volumes of Boston, February 24, 1904 (of which one 
hundred copies were published by the club), Henry W. 
Cunningham questioned the genuineness of certain 
prints generally attributed to Revere, and commented : 
" Paul Revere was an ardent patriot, and one of the 
most useful Americans of his day, and besides was an 
excellent mechanic ; but history does not show him to 
have been an artist, and in several instances it does 
show that he made use of the artistic talents of others." 
[23] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

to take the undue advantage you have done 
of the confidence and trust I reposed in 
you. But I find I was mistaken and after 
being at great Trouble and Expence of 
making a design, paying for paper, print- 
ing &c., find myself in the most ungener- 
ous Manner deprived not only of any 
proposed Advantage but even of the ex- 
pence I have been at as truly as if you 
had plundered me on the highway. If you 
are insensible of the Dishonour you have 
brought on yourself by this Act, the World 
will not be so. However, I leave you to 
reflect and consider of one of the most 
dishonourable Actions you could well be 
guilty of. 

" H. Pelham." 

This is a serious charge against Revere's 
honor and integrity, for if Pelham's state- 
ment is to be accepted, he loaned Revere a 
drawing he had made of the Massacre, from 
which Revere made an engraving, and mar- 
keted it without even so much as giving 
the real artist credit for his sketch, since 
[24] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

the Revere plate bears only the inscription, 
" Engraved, Printed and Sold by Paul 
Revere." That Pelham drew a representa- 
tion of the Massacre from which prints 
were made appears to be well established 
(he says in a letter written his half-brother, 
Charles Pelham, May 1, 1770: " Inclosed I 
send you two of my prints of the late 
Massacre ").' 

The verse underneath the Revere print, 
presumably composed by Revere, reads: 

Unhappy BOSTON ! see thy Sons deplore. 

Thy hallowed Walks besmear'd with guiltless Gore : 

With faithless P n and his savage Bands, 

With murd'rous Rancour stretch their bloody Hands ; 

Like fierce Barbarians grinning o'er their Pay. 

Approve the Carnage and enjoy the Day. 

If scalding drops from Rage and Anguish W>ung, 

If speechless Sorrows lab' ring for a Tongue, 

Or if a weeping World can aught appease 

The plaintive Ghosts of Victims such as these. 

The Patriots' copious Tears for each are shed, 

A glorious Tribute which embalms the Dead. 

But know, FATE summons to that sordid Goal 
Where JUSTICE strips the murd'rer of his Soul. 

^ Ford's article. 
[25] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Should venal C ts the scandal of the Land, 

Snatch the relentless Villain from her Hand, 
Keen Execrations on this Plate inscrib'd, 
Shall reach a J UDGE who never can be brib'd. 

The engraving also records that "the 
unhappy Sufferers were Mess^^ SAM^ 
GRAY, SAM^ MAVERICK, JAM^ 
CALDWELL, CRISPUS ATTUCKS 
& PAT^ CARR, killed. Six wounded two 
of them (CHRISi^ MONK & JOHN 
CLARK) Mortally." The English copy' 
bears the inscription: "The Fruits of 
Arbitrary Power; or the Bloody Massacre, 
Perpetrated in King Street, Boston, by a 
Party of the XXIXth Regt.," and the 
scriptural texts (Ps. xciv. 4, i, 6, 7) : 
" How long shall they utter and speak hard 
things? and all the workers of iniquity 
boast themselves? They break in pieces thy 
people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage "; 
" They slay the widow and the stranger, 

^ The Bostonian Society has one of the very few 
original imprints from this plate in its collection at 
the Old State House^ and also a copy of the London 
reproduction, which ran through three editions. 

[26] 



The Patriotic Engraver 



and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, 
The Lord shall not see, neither shall the 
God of Jacob regard it." Revere also drew 
a pen-and-ink plan of the massacre, show- 
ing King Street,^ with the houses facing on 
the street and the places where the military 
was drawn up and the victims fell. An 
engraving of five coffins, which appeared 
in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal^ 
March 12, in illustration of an account of 
the massacre, was contributed by him. 

As the first anniversary of the massacre 
approached, the town prepared to celebrate 
it with fitting ceremony. The public pro- 
gramme included the delivery of an oration 
by Thomas Young in the " Manufactory 
House " and the tolling of bells from 
noon to one o'clock and from nine to ten 
at night.^ But Revere made an inter- 
esting, picturesque, and long-remembered 
contribution of his own to the observances. 
He prepared a series of transparencies, 

^ The present State Street. 

^ Loring. The Hundred Boston Orators, pp. 24i-Q5. 

[27] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

which he displayed from the upper windows 
of his North Square house and which 
greatly impressed the crowds in the square 
below. 

One of these transparencies represented 
Christopher Snider/ " with one of his fin- 
gers in his wound, endeavoring to stop the 
blood from issuing therefrom; near him his 
friends weeping; at a small distance, a 
monumental pyramid with his name on the 
top and the names of those killed on the 
fifth of March around the base " ; ^ there 
was an inscription which read; 

Snider's pale ghost fresh bleeding stands, 
And vengeance for his death demands. 

In another window, under the legend 
" Foul Play," were shown the British sol- 
diers drawn up in firing line, with dead and 
wounded lying about, blood pouring from 
their wounds. A third transparency rep- 
resented America, in the form of a female 

^ A victim of the British soldiery, but not of the 
" massacre." 

2 Boston Neivs Letter, March 7 and 14, 1771. 

[28] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

figure, sitting on a tree stump, with one 
foot on the head of a prostrate grenadier 
grasping a serpent. The Boston Gazette 
reported that " the spectators were struck 
with solemn silence and their countenances 
were covered with a melancholy glow." 

Revere's " views " of the town of Boston 
and the harbor, of which there are three 
different engravings, constituted a popular 
series of prints. They commemorated the 
coming of the obnoxious 14th and 29th regi- 
ments of British troops, which were quar- 
tered upon the town and the presence of 
which led to the massacre. The first of 
these views was published soon after that 
sanguinary event, as appears from an ad- 
vertisement in the Boston Gazette and 
Country Journal of Monday, April 16, 
1770: 

*' Just Published and to be sold by Paul 
Revere, Opposite Dr. Clark's at the North- 
End, and by the Printers hereof, a Copper- 
Plate Print, containing a View of Part of 
[29] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

the Town of Boston in New England, and 
British Ships of War landing their Troops 
in the Year 1768. Dedicated to the Earl of 
Hillsborough." 

The picture shows the spires of, appar- 
ently, six churches and the cupolas of the 
Old State House and Faneuil Hall. In the 
lower right-hand corner is the dedication : 

" To the Earl of Hillsborough, His Ma- 
jest^ Scr^ of State for America THIS 
VIEW of the only well Plan'd EXPE- 
DITION formed for supporting y^ dig- 
nity of BRITAIN & chastising y^ insolence 
of AMERICA, is hum^ inscribed." 

The inscription beneath the picture gives 
the names of the several vessels shown, and 
explains that 

" on fryday Sept^ 30*^ 1T68, the Ships of 
WAR, armed Schooners, Transports, &c., 
Came up the Harbour and Anchored round 
the TOWN : their Cannon loaded, a Spring 
on their Cables, as for a regular Siege. At 
[30] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

noon on Saturday, October the 1*^ the four- 
teenth & twenty-ninth Regiments, a de- 
tachment from the 59*^^ Reg^ and a Train 
of Artillery, with two pieces of Cannon, 
landed on the Long Wharf; there Formed 
and Marched with insolent Parade, Drums 
beating. Fifes playing and Colours flying, 
up KING STREET, Each soldier having 
received 16 rounds of Powder and Ball." 

This view, as the newspaper advertise- 
ment tells us, was placed on sale by Revere 
as an independent venture; the other two 
views, which were similar in their general 
character to, though not identical vnth, the 
first, were engraved for and appeared re- 
spectively in Edes and Gill's North Ameri- 
can Almanac and Massachusetts Register 
for the Year 1770, and in the first issue 
of the Royal American Magazine (Janu- 
ary, 1774). Revere charged Edes and Gill 
£2, 8s. for the engraving which appeared 
in their almanac. He subsequently fur- 
nished many engravings for the Royal 
[31] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

American Magazine, including portraits of 
Sam Adams and John Hancock and numer- 
ous allegorical caricatures. He also illus- 
trated a two-volume work published in 
1T74, in New York, by James Rivington, 
who styled himself the "King's Printer"; 
this was an account of "A New Voyage 
Round the World, In the Years 1768, 1769, 
1770 and 1771; Undertaken by Order of 
his present Majesty, Performed by Captain 
James Cooke." " A Westerly View of the 
Colleges in Cambridge New England " was 
one of Revere's most popular and widely 
reproduced prints. He engraved numerous 
book-plates, and probably was the maker 
of the seal of the Phillips Andover Acad- 
emy, still in use by that institution; and for 
Joshua Brackett, who kept the Cromwell's 
Head Inn in School Street/ he engraved a 
very artistic letter-head showing the bust 
of Cromwell surrounded by ornate scroll- 
work. 

^ This ancient landmark stood in School Street until 
1888, when it was torn down. 
[32] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

On the 3d of May, 1773, Revere's wife 
died. In the sixteen years since their mar- 
riage eight children had been born to them : ^ 

Deborah, born April 8, 1758; (died Jan. 

8, 1797). 

Paul, born Jan. 6, 1760; (died Jan. 16, 

1813). 
Sarah, born Jan. 3, 1762; (died July 5, 

1791). 
Mary, born March 31, 1764; (died April 

30, 1765). 
Frances, born Feb. 19, 1766; (died June 

9, 1799). 

Mary, born March 19, 1768; (died Au- 
gust, 1853). 
Elizabeth, born Dec. 5, 1770; (died 

IzANNA, born Dec. 15, 1772; (died Sept. 
19, 1773). 

Revere's wife died in May; he buried his 
youngest child, an infant of nine months, 
in September; and a fortnight after the 

1 These dates, as also those relative to the children by Revere's 
second marria^^e given on pages 277-278, are taken from the 
Revere family Bible, and the author is indebted for them to Mr. 
E. H. R. Revere of Boston, a hneal descendant of Paul Revere. 

3 [ 33 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

latter event he married again. His second 
wife was Rachel Walker (born in Boston, 
December 27, 1745), and they were mar- 
ried by the Rev. Samuel Mather, October 
10, 1773. Revere at thirty-nine, the father 
of a considerable family whose mother was 
scarcely five months in her grave, appears 
to have been a light-hearted swain, notwith- 
standing his household was doubtless, as 
a descendant charitably has explained,^ " in 
sore need of a mother's care." He thus 
made love to his new bride: 

Take three fourths of a Paine that makes Traitors 

confess 
With three parts of a place which the Wicked don't 

bless 
Joyne four sevenths of an Exercise which shop-keepers 

use 
Add what Bad Men do, when they good actions refuse 
These four added together with great care and Art 
Will direct to the Fair One that is nearest my Heart. 

Is the reader puzzled by this rather 
labored effort? Then here is the key: 

^ Memorial of Paul Joseph and Edward H. R. Revere, 
p. 6. 

[34] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

" Rack '* is plainly the classic instrument of 
torture for traitors, and three- fourths of 
it is certainly " rac," but to be pronounced 
softly; hell is the place which everybody 
must know the wicked don't bless, and three 
parts of it is " hel " ; shopkeepers, in the 
days before electric cars, unless they were 
opulent enough to afford chaises, had, per- 
force, to indulge in walking, and four- 
sevenths thereof is " walk." Bad men, of 
course, are prone to err. Ergo, RACHEL 
WALKER! Surely Revere's sweetheart 
could not have failed to fathom this simple 
love riddle. 

One may find in the official records of the 
time ample evidence of Revere's active par- 
ticipation in the affairs of the town during 
this period. Whenever there was an im- 
portant message to be carried to the sister 
colonies, he was the man to whom it was 
intrusted to be conveyed as speedily as 
horses' legs could take him, and in the petty 
matters of local administration he also 
helped as befitted the good citizen. He was 
[35] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

repeatedly appointed on committees, serv- 
ing among others on the Committee on 
Lamps " when about to fix the Places for 
Erecting said Lamps." ^ In August, 1774, 
his name appears with twenty-one others 
in a list of those who refused to serve on 
the Suffolk grand jury, the last to sit under 
the Crown. Among the numerous acts of 
Parliament intended to break the spirit of 
the colonists was one making the justices 
of the Supreme Court in Massachusetts 
independent of the people for their salaries. 
The grand jurors, Paul Revere being of the 
number, who had been returned to serve at 
the first term of the court after news of the 
passage of this act was received, held a 
private meeting and caucused on the situ- 
ation before appearing in court. After a 
solemn deliberation all but one of them 
signed an agreement declining to serve, 
and this objector ultimately also refused. 
The document, unique but highly character- 

^ Boston Record Commissioners* Reports, Vol. 18, 
p. 136. 

[36] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

istic of the rebellious temper of the free 
citizens of Boston, was as follows: 

"Boston, August 30, 1774. 

" COUNTY OF SUFFOLK. 

" We who are returned by the several 
Towns in this county to serve as Grand 
Jurors at the Superior Court for this pres- 
ent Term, being actuated by a zealous Re- 
gard for Peace and good Order and a 
sincere Desire to promote Justice, Right- 
eousness and good Government, as being 
essential to the Happiness of the Com- 
munity; would now gladly proceed to the 
Discharge of the Important Duty required 
in that Department, could we persuade our 
selves that by doing thus, it would tend to 
our own Reputation or promote the Wel- 
fare of our Country. But when we con- 
sider the dangerous Inroads that have been 
made upon our Civil Constitution, the vio- 
lent attempts now making to alter and 
annull the most essential Parts of our Char- 
ter, granted by the most solemn Faith of 
[37] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

Kings, and repeatedly recognized by Brit- 
ish Kings and Parliaments; while we see 
the open and avowed Design of establishing 
the most compleat System of Despotism in 
this Province, and thereby reducing the free 
born Inhabitants thereof to the most abject 
State of Slavery & Bondage: we feel our- 
selves necessarily constrained to decline 
being impannelled, for Reasons that we are 
ready to offer to the Court, if permitted 
which are as follow : 

" First — Because PETER OLIVER, 
Esq. who sits as Chief Judge of this Court, 
has been charged with high Crimes and mis- 
demeanors by the late hon^^^ House of Rep- 
resentatives, the grand Inquest of this 
Province; of which charge he has never 
been legally acquitted, but has been de- 
clared by that House unqualified to act as 
Judge of this Court. 

"Secondly — Because by a late Act of the 
British Parliament for altering the Consti- 
tution of this Province, the continuance of 
the present Judges of this Court, as well 
[38] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

as the Appointment of others, from the first 
of July last is made to depend solely on the 
King's Pleasure, vastly different from the 
Tenure of the British Judges: and as we 
apprehend they now hold their places, only 
in consequence of that Act, all the judicial 
Proceedings of the Court will be taken as 
Concessions to the validity of the same to 
which we dare not consent: 

" Thirdly — Because three of the Judges, 
being the major part of the Court, namely, 
the said PETER OLIVER, Esq., FOS- 
TER HUTCHINSON, Esq., and WIL- 
LIAM BROWN, Esq.,^ by taking the 
Oath of Counsellors under Authority of 
the aforementioned Act, are (as we are in- 
formed) sworn to carry into execution all 

^ Chief Justice Oliver left the bench in 1775, went 
to England the next year, and died in Birmingham, 
October 13, 1791 ; Brown left the country at the out- 
break of the war, was made governor of Bermuda, and 
died in England, February 13, 1802; Hutchinson, a 
brother of Governor Hutchinson, went to England and 
died there. — William T. Davis, History of the Judiciary 
of Massachusetts, pp. 92, 97, 98. 
[39] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

the Late grievous Acts of the British Par- 
liament, among the Last of which is one 
made ostensibly for the Impartial Admin- 
istration of Justice in this province, but, 
as we fear, really for the Impunity of such 
persons as shall under pretext of executing 
those Acts, murder any of the Inhabitants 
thereof, which Acts appear to us to be 
utterly repugnant to every Idea of Justice 
& common humanity, and are justly com- 
plained of throughout America as highly 
injurious and oppressive to the good people 
of this Province, and manifestly destructive 
of their national, as well as constitutional 
rights. 

" Fourthly — Because we believe in our 
Consciences that our acting in Concert with 
a Court so constituted and under such cir- 
cumstances, would be so far betraying the 
just and sacred Rights of our native Land, 
which were not the Gift of Kings, but were 
purchased solely with the Toil, the Blood 
and Treasure of our worthy and revered 
Ancestors and which we look upon our- 
[40 1 



The Patriotic Engraver 



selves, under the most sacred Obligations 
to maintain and to transmit the same whole 
and entire to our Posterity. 

" Therefore we the Subscribers unani- 
mously decline serving as grand Jurors at 
this Court. 



Wm. Thompson 
Joseph Willet 
Paul Revere 
Robert Williams 
Jam^ Ivers 
Joseph Pool 
Lemuel Kollock 
Nicholas Cook 
William Bullard 
Moses Richardson 
Abraham Wheeler 



Peter Boyer 
Thos. Crafts, junr 
Joseph Hall 
Henry Plimpton 
Jonathan Day 
Nath Belcher 
Eben Hancock 
Joseph Jones 
Tho« Pratt 
Abijah Upham 
Samuel Hobart " ' 



When court opened and the jurors were 
called they refused to be sworn. The last 
name on the Hst was that of Thomas Pratt 
of Chelsea, who inquired, when he was 

1 Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, 1875- 
1876, pp. 109, 110. 

[41] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

called, whether the justices' salaries were 
to be paid by the Province or the King. 
" Mr. Pratt," retorted the chief justice, 
" this court is organized as it always has 
been, and it can be of no importance to you, 
as a juror, whether our salaries be paid from 
the treasury of the crown or of the prov- 
ince"; to which Pratt replied with spirit: 
" I won't sarve.'' Revere used often in 
after life to relate this incident with keen 
relish.^ 

Public opinion during the revolutionary 
period found opportunity to crystallize in 
both public and private gatherings. It 
would probably not be possible to exagger- 
ate the influence of the numerous secret 
organizations of the time — the Free- 
masons, the " Sons of Liberty," the North 
and South End " Caucuses " — upon the 
events which helped to bring on the conflict 
with the mother country. In most of these 
Revere was a moving spirit. The " Sons 
of Liberty " met in a distillery and also the 

1 New England Magazine, Vol. 3 (1832), p. 309. 
[42] 



The Patriotic Engraver 



Green Dragon Tavern, and arose out of 
the excitement attending the passage of the 
Stamp Act, being first called " The Union 
Club," but later taking a more descriptive 
name from an allusion in a speech of Col- 
onel Barre, a friend of the colonists, in 
Parliament/ John Adams in his diary- 
gives some interesting glimpses of these 
clubs : 

" Feb. 1, 1763. — This day learned that 
the Caucus Club meets at certain times in 
the garret of Tom Dawes, the adjutant 
of the Boston regiment. He has a large 
house, and he has a movable partition in his 
garrett, which he takes down, and the whole 
club meet in one room. There they smoke 
tobacco till you cannot see from one end of 
the garret to the other. Then they drink 
jBip, I suppose, and there they choose a mod- 
erator, who puts questions to the vote reg- 
ularly; and selectmen, assessors, collectors, 

^ Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 
13 (1873-1875)^ p. 200 ; also Boston Gazette, August 22, 
1768. 

[48] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

wardens, iirewards, and representatives, are 
regularly chosen before they are chosen 
in the town. Fairfield, Story, Ruddock, 
Adams, Cooper, and a rudis indigestaque 
moles of others, are members. They send 
committees to wait on the Merchants Club, 
and to propose and join in the choice of 
men and measures. Captain Cunningham 
says they have often solicited him to go to 
these caucuses, — they have assured him 
benefit in his business, &c. 

" Dec. 23, 1765. — Went into Mr. Dud- 
ley's, Mr. Dana's, Mr. Otis's ofiSce, and then 
to Mr. Adams's, and went with him to the 
Monday night club. There I found Otis, 
Cushing, Wells, Pemberton, Gray, Austin, 
two Waldos, Inches, and spent the evening 
very agreeably. Politicians all at this club. 

" Jany. 15, 1766. — Spent the evening with 
the Sons of Liberty at their own apartment 
in Hanover- Square near the Tree of Lib- 
erty. It is a counting-room, in Chase & 
Speakman's distillery; a very small room 
it is. There were present John Avery, a 
[44] 



The Patriotic Engraver 

distiller of liberal education; John Smith, 
the brazier; Thomas Chase, distiller; Jo- 
seph Fields, master of a vessel; Henry 
Bass; George Trott, jeweler; and Henry- 
Welles. I was very cordially and respect- 
fully treated by all present. We had punch, 
wine, pipes and tobacco, biscuit and cheese, 
etc. They chose a committee to make prep- 
arations for grand rejoicings upon the 
arrival of the news of a repeal of the stamp 
act." 

From which it appears that politicians 
are much the same in all times. Public 
officials were chosen by a ring in Boston 
in the year of our Lord 1763 before they 
were " chosen in the town," and the Revo- 
lution was hatched in a rum- shop, while 
those upon whom history has placed the 
seal of greatness and statesmanship filled 
themselves with " flip " in an atmosphere 
dense with tobacco smoke, as they plotted 
and planned the momentous events of the 
time! 

[45] 



II — THE MESSENGER OF THE 
GATHERING REVOLUTION 

1773-1775 

ON the 14th of December, 1773, 
that Boston patriot and faithful 
old chronicler of current events, 
Thomas Newell, took out his diary and 
made the following entry : ^ 

"Wind S. E. Tuesday, cloudy. This 
morning the following handbills were 
posted up, viz : — 

" Friends ! Brethren ! Countrymen ! — 
" The perfidious act of your restless 
enemies to render ineffectual the late reso- 
lutions of the body of the people demand 
your assembling at the Old South meeting- 
house, precisely at two o'clock, at which time 
the bells will ring." 

^ Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings (1876- 
1877), p. 346. 

[46] 



Messenger of the Revolution 

The crisis which had been foreseen for 
weeks was rapidly approaching. The tea 
ships were at hand, and it had been resolved 
by the North End caucus on October 23 
that its members would " oppose at peril of 
life and fortune the vending of any tea 
that might be imported by the East India 
Company." ^ Great public excitement at- 
tended the arrival of the vessels with the 
consignments of tea, and meetings called by 
the patriot leaders to see what should be 
done were the order of the day. At one 
of these a song was composed and at once 
became very popular. One of its verses 
ran: 

Our Warren 's there and bold Revere 
With hands to do and words to cheer. 

For liberty and laws ; 
Our country's " braves " and firm defenders 
Shall ne'r be left by true North Enders, 

Fighting Freedom s cause. 
Then rally, boys, and hasten on 
To meet our chiefs at the Green Dragon.* 

^ Francis S. Drake, Tea Leaves, p. xxiii. 
^ From W. W. Wheildon's Scrap-book, in the Boston 
Public Library. 

[47] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

The meeting of the 14th of December, 
to which the citizens had been summoned b}^ 
the posting of handbills, was adjourned to 
the 16th without any definite action having 
been taken. But on that day the Old South 
was thronged and the people were deter- 
mined. There was much speech-making, 
something of which Bostonians are exces- 
sively fond to this day, and, at half-past 
four in the afternoon, it was voted, amid 
great enthusiasm, that the tea should not 
be landed. What subsequently transpired 
was thus graphically reported in the col- 
umns of the Massachusetts Gazette:^ 

" Just before the dissolution, a number 
of brave and resolute men, dressed in the 
Indian manner, approached near the door 
of the assembly, and gave a warwhoop, 
which rang through the house, and was 
answered by some in the galleries, but 
silence was commanded, and a peaceable 
deportment enjoined until the dissolution. 
The Indians, as they were then called re- 

^ Issue of December 23, 1773. 
[48] 



Messenger of the Revolution 

paired to the wharf, where the ships lay that 
had the tea on board, and were followed 
by hundreds of people, to see the event of 
the transactions of those who made so gro- 
tesque an appearance. The Indians im- 
mediately repaired on board Capt. Hall's 
ship, where they hoisted out the chests of 
tea, and when on deck stove them and 
emptied the tea overboard. Having cleared 
this ship, they proceeded to Capt. Bruce's, 
and then to Capt. Coffin's brig. They 
applied themselves so dexterously to the 
destruction of this commodity, that in the 
space of three hours they broke up three 
hundred and forty-two chests, which was 
the whole number in these vessels, and dis- 
charged their contents into the dock. When 
the tide rose, it floated the broken chests 
and the tea insomuch that the surface of 
the water was filled therewith a considerable 
way from the south part of the town to 
Dorchester Neck, and lodged on the shores. 
" There was the greatest care taken to 
prevent the tea being purloined by the popu- 
4 [49] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

lace; one or two being detected in endeav- 
oring to pocket a small quantity were 
stripped of their acquisitions and very 
roughly handled. It is worthy of remark 
that although a considerable quantity of 
goods were still remaining on board the 
vessel no injury was sustained. Such atten- 
tion to private property was observed that 
a small padlock belonging to the captain 
of one of the ships being broke, another 
was procured and sent to him. The town 
was very quiet during the whole evening 
and the night following. Those who were 
from the country went home with a merry 
heart, and the next day joy appeared in 
almost every countenance, some on account 
of the destruction of the tea, others on 
account of the quietness with which it was 
efFe 'cd. One of the Monday's papers 
says that the masters and owners are well 
pleased that their ships are thus cleared." 

Revere was one of the chief actors in 
this tumultuous aifair, and the next day, 
[60] 



Messenger of the Bevolution 

when the Committee of Correspondence 
met and resolved to send an account of the 
event to the patriots in New York and Phil- 
adelphia, he was the man chosen to carry 
the message. The letter which he took 
was addressed to the New York " Sons of 
Liberty." 

" The bearer," it read, " is chosen by the 
committee from a number of gentlemen, 
who volunteered to carry you this intelli- 
gence. We are in a perfect jubilee. Not 
a Tory in the whole community can find the 
least fault with our proceedings. . . . The 
spirit of the people throughout the coun- 
try is to be described by no terms in my 
power. Their conduct last night surprised 
the admiral and the English gentlemen, 
who observed that these were not a r^ob 
of disorderly rabble, (as they had been 
reported) but men of sense, coolness and 
intrepidity." 

It may well be imagined that Revere sup- 
plemented this brief description of the 
[51] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

Boston Tea Party with a more detailed 
narrative. The news he brought soon 
spread among the New Yorkers, and they 
gathered in the pubhc places in great num- 
bers. Needless to record, the crowd was in 
high spirits, and one and all declared that 
the ships with tea on board, which were 
known to be at that time nearing New 
York, must be sent back or the tea de- 
stroyed. They proclaimed their enthusi- 
astic approval of what the Bostonians had 
done and sent the exciting news on to Phil- 
adelphia. Revere then returned home, and 
when he announced that Governor Tryon 
had declared that the tea ships bound for 
New York would surely be turned back, all 
the bells in Boston were rung. Revere 
made this trip in eleven days, arriving in 
Boston on the 27th of December.^ The 
next day he was appointed one of the 
" watch " of twenty-five placed over Cap- 
tain Hull's vessel and cargo by the level- 
headed patriot leaders to prevent any of the 

^ Newell's Diary. 
L52] 



Messenger of the Revolution 

headstrong among the populace from doing 
unwarranted damage. 

A short time after the grand destruction 
of tea in Boston harbor, word was received 
of another consignment intended for New 
England consumption, and members of the 
resolute band that had destroyed the first 
shipments disposed of the second lot in the 
same fashion. This episode was alluded to 
in a letter which Revere wrote March 28 to 
his friend John Lamb * in New York : 

" You have no doubt heard the particu- 
lars, relating to the last twenty-eight chests 
of tea ; it was disposed of in the same man- 
ner, as I informed you of the other, and 
should five hundred more arrive, it would 
go in the same way. Yesterday a vessel 
arrived from Antigua, the captain says 
your tea vessel was to sail three days after 
him, so by the next post I shall expect to 
hear a good account of it." ^ 

* Isaac Q. Leake, Memoir of the Life and Times of 
General John Lamb, p. 81. 

^ The tea vessel bound for New York referred to in 
[53] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

The famous Boston port bill, intended to 
operate as a boycott against the port of 
Boston, received the royal signature and be- 
came law March 31, 1774. It was printed 
in the Boston newspapers of the 10th of 
May, and went into effect June 1. On 
the 12th of May, the Conmiittee of Corre- 
spondence having directed Warren to call 
the meeting, representatives from Boston, 
Dorchester, Roxbury, Newton, Brookline, 
Cambridge, Charlestown, Lynn, and Lex- 
ington gathered in Faneuil Hall to delib- 
erate on " the critical state of affairs." 
Samuel Adams presided, and it was voted 
to be the sense of the meeting that "if the 
other colonies come into a joint resolution 

this letter was the Nancy, Captain Lockyier. She was 
not allowed to land her cargo, being required upon 
her arrival to put back to sea. But another ship, the 
London^ Captain Chambers, arriving about the same 
time at New York with eighteen chests of tea on board, 
was boarded by the patriots, the tea discovered after 
its presence had been strenuously denied by the cap- 
tain, and destroyed. Captain Chambers was sent back 
to England with Captain Lockyier on the Nancy. 
[54] 



Messenger of the Eevolution 

to stop all importation from, and exporta- 
tion to, Great Britain and every part of the 
West Indies till the act be repealed, the 
same will prove the salvation of North 
America and her liberties; and that the im- 
policy, injustice, inhumanity, and cruelty 
of the act exceed all our powers of expres- 
sion. We, therefore leave it to the just 
censure of others, and appeal to God and 
the world." 

The next day formal action was taken at 
a town meeting at which Adams again pre- 
sided as moderator. It was agreed to send 
this appeal, prepared by Adams, to the 
sister colonies: 

" The people receive the edict with indig- 
nation. It is expected by their enemies, and 
feared by some of their friends, that this 
town singly will not be able to support the 
cause under so severe a trial. As the very 
being of every colony, considered as a free 
people, depends upon the event, a thought 
so dishonorable to our brethren cannot be 
[55] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

entertained as that this town will be left to 
struggle alone." 

" A committee," says Newell/ " was 
chosen to go to several towns. Mr. P. Re- 
vere was chosen to go express to York and 
Philadelphia, &c., &c." " My worthy friend, 
Revere," writes Dr. Thomas Young, a 
prominent Boston Son of Liberty, to 
John Lamb of New York, " again revisits 
you. No man of his rank and oppor- 
tunities in life deserves better of the 
community. Steady, vigorous, sensible and 
persevering." ^ 

Revere set out on the 14th, and reached 
New York a few days later, delivering his 
message to the Committee of Fifty-One. 
On the 20th he arrived at Philadelphia ; and 
that very night the citizens held a mass 
meeting, at which the " execrable Port 
Bill " was denounced, and a vote passed not 

* Diary. Massachusetts Historical Society Proceed- 
ings, 1876-1877, p. 352. 

* Quoted by Goss in his Life of Revere, Vol. 1, 
p. 149. 

[56] 



Messenger of the Bevolution 

merely conveying sympathy to the Boston 
patriots but making the latter's cause their 
own.^ The Committee of Correspondence 
appointed at this meeting prepared a reply 
to be sent to Boston, and a copy was also 
transmitted to New York and the southern 
colonies, accompanied by the important 
recommendation that steps should be taken 
at once for the calling of a general congress 
of the colonies. 

Revere's return from this trip was duly 
recorded in the news of the day. In the 
Essex Gazette of May 30, 1774, appears 
this item: 

" On Saturday last, Mr. Paul Revere 
returned from Philadelphia, having been 
sent express to the Southern Colonies, with 
intelligence of the late rash, impolitic and 
vindictive measures of the British Parlia- 
ment, who, by the execrable Port Bill, have 
held out to us a most incontestable argument 
why we ought to submit to their jurisdiction; 

^ Frank M. Etting, Historical Account of Independence 
Hall, p. 74. 

[57] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

and what rich blessings we may secure to 
ourselves and posterity, by an acquiescence 
in their lenity, wisdom, and justice. Noth- 
ing can exceed the indignation with which 
our brethren in Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
New York and Philadelphia have received 
this proof of ministerial madness. They 
universally declare their resolution to stand 
by us to the last extremity." 

The New York Sons of Liberty appear 
to have taken action in sympathy with their 
Boston brethren without waiting for the 
appeal which Revere brought, since resolu- 
tions were passed by them, and a letter dated 
May 14, the day Revere left Boston, was 
prepared, exhorting the Boston patriots to 
stand firm. These were despatched to Bos- 
ton by John Ludlow. Benson J. Lossing, 
whose fondness for romance is one of his 
defects as a historian, wrote a very pretty 
imaginative account of a meeting between 
Revere and Ludlow.^ 

1 Our Country, Vol. 2, p. 71 6. 
[58] 



Messenger of the Bevolution 

" Ludlow," says Lossing, " rode swiftly 
with them, [the New York resolutions] on 
a black horse, toward the New England 
capital. He told their import as he coursed 
through Connecticut and Rhode Island. 
Near Providence, on the edge of a wood 
that was just receiving its summer foliage, 
by a cool spring, he met Paul Revere, riding 
express on a gray horse, bearing to New 
York and Philadelphia assurances of the 
faith and firmness of the Bostonians, and to 
invoke sympathy and co-operation. Revere 
also carried a large number of printed 
copies of the act made sombre by heavy 
black lines, and garnished with the picture 
of a crown, a skull and cross-bones, un- 
doubtedly engraved by Revere himself. 
These he scattered through the villages on 
his way, where they were carried about the 
streets with the cry of 'Barbarous, cruel, 
bloody and inhuman murder! ' Revere and 
Ludlow took a hasty lunch together at the 
spring, and then pressed forward on their 
holy mission." 

[59] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

The summer passed without special inci- 
dent, though the pubhc mind was in con- 
dition of high tension, Revere writing to 
his friend Lamb, September 4 : ^ 

" I embrace this opportunity to inform 
you, that we are in Spirits, tho' in a Garri- 
son; the Spirit of Liberty was never higher 
than at present; the Troops have the hor- 
rors amazingly, by reason of some late 
movements of our friends in the Country 
the week past, our new f angled Councellors 
are resigning their places every Day; our 
Justices of the Courts, who now hold their 
Commissions during the pleasure of his 
Majesty, or the Governor, cannot git a 
Jury that will act with them, in short the 
Tories are giving way everywhere in our 
Province." 

Revere's next ride after the Port Bill 
excitement had subsided was on the 11th 
of September, when Warren chose him to 

* Lamb papers in possession of New York Historical 
Society. Goss (Vol. 1, p. 150) gives this letter in full. 

[60] 



Messenger of the Revolution 

carry copies of the famous Suffolk Re- 
solves/ with a letter of Warren's, to the 
Massachusetts delegates in attendance on 
the Continental Congress then in session at 
Philadelphia. He arrived six days later, 
on the 17th, and on the same day the re- 

^ The resolves had been adopted at a convention of 
delegates from all the towns in Suffolk County who first 
met in Dedham, September 6, but adjourned three days 
later to the home of Daniel Vose in Milton. This old 
house, located a few steps from the bridge across the 
Neponset River at Milton Lower Mills, is still standing. 
On its front is a tablet with this inscription : 

"IN THIS MANSION 

On the 9th day of September, 1774, at a meeting of 
the delegates of every town and district in the county 
of Suffolk, the memorable Suffolk Resolves were adopted. 
They were reported by Major-General Warren, who fell 
in their defence in the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 1 7, 
1775. They were approved by the members of the 
Continental Congress at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, 
on the 17th September, 1774. The Resolves to which 
the immortal patriot here first gave utterance, and the 
heroic deeds of that eventful day on which he fell, led 
the way to American Independence. ' Posterity will 
acknowledge that virtue which preserved them free 
and happy.' " 

[61] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

solves were read in Congress. John Adams 
wrote to his wife of their reception: 

" The esteem, the affection, the admira- 
tion for the people of Boston and Massa- 
chusetts which they expressed, and the fixed 
determination that they should be supported 
were enough to melt a heart of stone. I 
saw tears gush into the eyes of the old, 
grave, pacific Quakers of Pennsylvania." ^ 

But the Congress did something more 
than gush. It promptly passed resolutions 
condemning the acts of the British Parlia- 
ment which had called forth the Suffolk 
Resolves, thereby placing its official en- 
dorsement upon the latter, and Revere was 
able to bring the interesting news of this 
important action back to Boston. 

In October Revere was again sent to 
Philadelphia. The Continental Congress 
was still in session there. The Provincial 
Congress of Massachusetts was also in ses- 

^ The Works of John Adams, edited by his grandson, 
Charles Francis Adams, Vol. 2, p. 380. 

[62] 



Messenger of the Revolution 

sion and anxious to know what was trans- 
piring at Philadelphia. Samuel Adams 
was one of the Massachusetts representa- 
tives to the Continental Congress, and on 
this occasion Revere carried letters to him 
from Joseph Warren and, no doubt, to 
others in the Quaker city from friends in 
Boston. 

In the following December Revere made 
the last trip on horseback as an official mes- 
senger of which we have a record, before 
that fateful ride of which Longfellow sang 
and which brought him fame. This De- 
cember ride, while not so long as the trips 
to Philadelphia, had an element of risk and 
adventure similar to that of the 18th of 
April, 1775, and was of hardly less im- 
portance to the patriot cause. By an act 
of British authority the colonies had been 
prohibited the further importation of gun- 
powder and military stores, and an expe- 
dition was arranged for the relief of Fort 
William and Mary at Portsmouth, which 
was rightly believed to be in danger of 
[63] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

attack by the provincials. But the ever 
vigilant Sons of Liberty in Boston learned 
of the reinforcements intended for the fort, 
and quickly planned to notify the " Sons " 
at Portsmouth. Revere, of course, was the 
one selected to carry the information. 

On the afternoon of December 13 Revere 
rode up to the house of General Sullivan 
in the little town of Durham with his warn- 
ing news, and, after baiting his nearly ex- 
hausted horse, rode on to Portsmouth. 
Eleazer Bennett, the last survivor of the 
party which raided the fort, has left a cir- 
cumspect account of the affair: 

" I was working for Major Sullivan," he 
says, " when Micah Davis came up and told 
me Major Sullivan wanted me to go to 
Portsmouth, and to get all the men I could 
to go with him. The men who went, as 
far as I can remember, were Major John 
Sullivan, Captain Winborn Adams, Eben- 
ezer Thompson, John Demeritt, Alpheus 
and Jonathan Chesley, John Spencer, Micah 
[64] 



Messenger of the Eevolution 

Davis, Isaac and Benjamin Small of Dur- 
ham; Ebenezer Sullivan, Captain Langdon 
and Thomas Pickering of Portsmouth; 
John Griffin, James Underwood, and Alex- 
ander Scannel. We took a gondola belong- 
ing to Benjamin Mathes, who was too old 
to go, and went down the river to Ports- 
mouth. It was a clear, cold moonlight 
night. We sailed down to the fort at the 
mouth of Piscataqua Harbor. The water 
was so shallow that we could not bring 
the boat to within a rod of shore. We 
waded through the water in perfect silence, 
mounted the fort, surprised the garrison, 
and bound the captain. In the fort we 
found one hundred casks of powder and 
one hundred small arms, which we brought 
down to the boat. In wading through the 
water it froze upon us." ^ 

^ Ballard Smith in Harpers Magazine, July, 1886, 
p. 239 et seq. Dr. Alonzo H. Quint told the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society (Proceedings, 1873-1875, p. 
450), at its meeting of March, 1875, that he heard this 
statement taken from Bennett, who lived until 1851. 
"A vain tradition," said Dr. Quint, "has obtained 
5 [65 1 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

In a letter to Lord Dartmouth, the gov- 
ernor, Sir John Wentworth gives some 
further details: 

" News was brought to me," he wrote, 
" that a Drum was beating about the town 
to collect the Populace together in order to 
take away the gunpowder and dismantle 
the Fort. I immediately sent the Chief 
Justice of the Province to warn them from 
engaging in such an attempt. He went 
to them, where they were collected in the 
centre of the town, near the townhouse, ex- 
plained to them the nature of the offence 
they proposed to commit, told them it was 
not short of Rebellion, and intreated them 
to desist from it and disperse. But all to 
no purpose. They went to the Island ; and, 
being joined there by the inhabitants of the 
towns of Newcastle and Rye, formed in all 
a body of about four hundred men, and the 

some circulation, that this attack was a night surprise. 
It was at three o'clock in the afternoon, and the com- 
mander of the fort had had three hours' notice of the 
approach." 

[66] 



Messenger of the Bevolution 

Castle being in too weak a condition for 
defence (as I have in former letters ex- 
plained to your Lordship) they forced an 
entrance in spite of Captain Cochran; who 
defended it as long as he could ; but, having 
only the assistance of five men, their num- 
bers overpowered him. After they entered 
the fort, they seized upon the Captain, tri- 
umphantly gave three Huzzas, and hauled 
down the King's colours. They then put 
the captain and men under confinement, 
broke open the Gunpowder magazine, and 
carried off about 100 Barrels of Gun- 
powder, but discharged the Captain and 
men from their confinement before their 
departure." ^ 

Captain Cochran, in his report, wrote: 

" I told them on their peril not to enter. 
They replied they would. I immediately 
ordered three four-pounders to be fired on 
them, and then the small-arms, and before 

^ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 
1869, Vol. 23, p. 276. 

[67] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

we could be ready to fire again we were 
stormed on all quarters, and immediately 
they secured me and my men, and kept us 
prisoners for about an hour and a half, 
during which time they broke open the 
powder-house and took all the powder away 
except one barrel." ^ 

There is hardly any doubt that this affair, 
which happened four months before the 
fight at Lexington and more than two 
months before the episode of the Salem 
North Bridge, constituted the first act of 
force of a military nature committed by 
the colonists against the authority of the 
mother country; and it is, moreover, clear 
that on this occasion the colonists were the 
aggressors. It may be questioned whether 
the patriots at this early date seriously con- 
templated war as an inevitable consequence 
of the drift of events; but if they were 
already anticipating that dread alternative 

^ Quoted by Ballard Smith. Harpers Magaziiie, 
July, 1886, p. 241. 

[68] 



Messenger of the Revolution 

as impossible of avoidance they could not 
have acted with greater prescience in send- 
ing Revere to Portsmouth to stir up the 
New Hampshire patriots to make the attack 
on Fort William and Mary. The whole 
object of that attack was not, primarily, to 
offer insult to the King, but to secure means 
of defence against the time when they 
might be needed. 

In the light of subsequent events the 
Portsmouth raid was fully justified. There 
was a fearful lack of ammunition in the 
Continental army during the siege of Bos- 
ton following the outbreak of the war. 
Bancroft says ^ that on the eve of the battle 
of Bunker Hill there were only sixty-three 
barrels of gunpowder on hand after collect- 
ing all that could be obtained north of the 
Delaware. When, in the crisis of that en- 
gagement, Prescott ordered the retreat, his 
soldiers had but a single round of ammuni- 
tion. Stark, however, opened up a fierce fire 

^ History of the United States, Vol. 4, p. 219 (ed. 
1884). 

[69] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

on the advancing Welsh Fusileers, which pre- 
vented the retreat being cut off and prob- 
ably saved both his and Prescott's men from 
being annihilated or captured. " An ample 
supply of powder arrived in the nick of 
time," says Amory in his Military Services 
of General Sullivan} " It had been brought 
over from Durham, sixty miles away, in old 
John Demeritt's ox-cart, and it was a part 
of the store that had been buried under Par- 
son Adams's pulpit. Failing it, Prescott 
might on that day have shared the martyr- 
dom of Warren, and Molly Stark might 
indeed have been a widow that night." 

The gunpowder which saved Bunker Hill 
from being an utter rout for the Provincial 
soldiery was thus, upon the evidence before 
us, the same that was carried away from 
Fort William and Mary six months previ- 
ous and hidden beneath the pulpit of Dur- 
ham meeting-house. To claim for Paul 
Revere the credit for preventing complete 
disaster at Bunker Hill would be a some- 

^ p. 242. 

[^0 1 



Messenger of the Bevolution 

what exaggerated view, no doubt; but it 
was Revere, as the agent of the Boston 
patriots, who warned the men of New 
Hampshire that it behooved them to act 
quickly if they would obtain possession of 
the store of gunpowder in the fort in Ports- 
mouth harbor; and we have it on the 
authority of a contemporary historian ^ that 
the affair was transacted " in the most for- 
tunate point of time, — just before the 
arrival of the Scarborough frigate, and 
Cansean sloop, with several companies of 
soldiers, who took possession of the fort, 
and of the heavy cannon which had not been 
removed." 

^ Jeremy Belknap, History of Neiv Hampshire (Bos- 
ton, 1791), Vol. 2, pp. 376-377. 



[71] 



Ill — THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF 
APRIL 18, 1775 

BOSTON was in a ferment during the 
) v/inter of 1774-1775. The long series 
of grievances endured from the 
mother country had led to the adoption of 
the Suffolk Resolves in September. In 
October the Provincial Congress was organ- 
ized, with Hancock as president; a protest 
was sent to the royal governor remonstrat- 
ing against his hostile attitude, and a com- 
mittee of public safety was provided for. 
In February this committee was named, 
delegates were selected for the next Conti- 
nental Congress, and provision was made 
for the establishment of the militia. Ef- 
forts made by royal governors to seize the 
military stores of the patriots and to dis- 
band the militia had proved futile, and the 
fire of opposition to the indignities heaped 
[72] 



The Midnight Bide 



upon the people by the Crown was kept 
ahve by secret organizations. " Sons of 
Liberty " met in clubs and caucuses, the 
group which gathered at the Green Dragon 
Tavern being the most famous. They were 
composed chiefly of young artisans and me- 
chanics from the ranks of the people, who, 
in the rapid succession of events, were be- 
coming more and more restive under the 
British yoke. 

None of these patriots chafed more im- 
patiently or was more active in taking 
advantage of each opportunity that offered 
to antagonize the plans of the royal emis- 
saries than Paul Revere, now aged forty. 
In the early months of 1775 he was one of 
a band of thirty who had formed themselves 
into a committee to watch the movements 
of the British soldiers and the Tories in 
Boston. In parties of two and two, 
taking turns, they patrolled the streets all 
night. 

Finally, at midnight of Saturday, the 
15th of April, the vigilance of these self- 
[73] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

appointed patrolmen was rewarded. It 
became apparent then that something un- 
usual was suddenly occurring in the British 
camp. One of the English officers wrote 
in his diary: 

" General Orders. ' The Grenadiers and 
Light Infantry in order to learn Grena- 
diers. Exercise and new evolutions are 
to be off all duties 'till further orders.' 
This I suppose is by way of a blind. I 
dare say they have some thing for them 
to do." ' 

But the movement did not serve to blind 
the vigilant and suspicious patriots. " The 
boats belonging to the transports were all 
launched," says Revere in his narrative, 
" and carried under the sterns of the men- 
of-war. (They had been previously hauled 
up and repaired.) We likewise found that 
the grenadiers and light infantry were all 
taken off duty. From these movements 
we expected something was to be trans- 

^ The Diary of a British Officer in Boston in 1775. 
Atlantic Monthly, April, 1877, p. 398. 
[74] 



The Midnight Bide 



acted." The following day, Sunday, the 
16th, Dr. Warren despatched Revere to 
Lexington with a message to John Hancock 
and Samuel Adams. 

This ride of the 16th has never received 
much attention. It is not famed in song 
and story, and Revere himself alludes to it 
only incidentally. He probably made the 
journey out and back in the daytime, jog- 
ging along unnoticed, and not anxious to 
advertise the purpose of his errand. Yet 
there can be no doubt that, in its relation 
to the portentous events which followed 
three days later, it was at least of as great 
importance as the more spectacular "mid- 
night ride " of the 18th. The movement of 
the British on the night of the 15th aroused 
the suspicion of the patriots, of whom 
Warren was chief, who had remained in 
Boston. They meant to him one thing, — 
an intention to send forth soon an expedi- 
tion of some sort. The most plausible con- 
jecture as to its object, even had there been 
no direct information on the subject, sug- 
[75] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

gested the capture of Hancock and Adams 
at Lexington, or the seizure of the military 
stores at Concord, or both. 

The two patriot leaders, upon whose 
heads a price had been fixed by King 
George, were in daily attendance upon the 
sessions of the Provincial Congress at Con- 
cord; but they lodged nightly in the neigh- 
boring town of Lexington, at the house of 
the Rev. Jonas Clarke, whose wife was a 
niece of Hancock. It was of the utmost 
importance that they and the Congress be 
kept fully informed of what was transpir- 
ing in Boston. But when Revere called 
upon Hancock and Adams in Lexington 
on Sunday, he found that Congress had 
adjourned the day before to the 15th of 
May, in ignorance, of course, of the imme- 
diate plans of the British. It had not done 
so, however, without recognizing " the great 
uncertainty of the present times, and that 
important unforseen events may take place, 
from whence it may be absolutely necessary 
that this Congress should meet sooner than 
[76] 



The Midnight Bide 



the day aforesaid." ^ The delegates indeed 
had scarcely dispersed before the news 
brought by Revere aroused such apprehen- 
sion that the committee which had been 
authorized to call the convention together 
again met, and on Tuesday, the 18th, or- 
dered the delegates to reassemble on the 
22d at Watertown. Meantime, the Com- 
mittees of Safety and Supplies had con- 
tinued their sessions at Concord. Friday, 
the 14th, it had been voted: 

" That the cannon now in the town of 
Concord, be immediately disposed of within 
said town, as the committee of supplies may 
direct." ^ 

But on Monday, the 17th, ^vith John 
Hancock, to whom on Sunday Revere had 
brought information of the preparations 
being made in Boston for the expedition 
of the British, the Committees of Safety 
and Supplies, sitting jointly, voted: 

^ Journal of the Second Provincial Congress, p. 146. 
^ Journal of Committees of Safety and Supplies, 
p. 514. 

[77] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

" That two four pounders, now at Con- 
cord, be mounted by the committee of sup- 
pHes, and that Col. Barrett be desired to 
raise an artillery company, to join the army 
when raised, they to have no pay until they 
join the army; and also that an instructor 
for the use of the cannon be appointed, to 
be put directly in pay." 

It was also voted: 

" That the four six pounders be trans- 
ported to Groton, and put under the care 
of Col. Prescott. 

" That two seven inch brass mortars be 
transported to Acton." ^ 

On the 18th the committees continued 
their preparations in anticipation of the 
descent of the British upon the stores. Nu- 
merous votes were passed, providing for a 
thorough distribution of the stock of pro- 
visions and ammunition on hand; a few 

^ Journal of Committees of Safety and Supplies, 
p. 515. 



The Midnight Bide 



of these may be cited to tell the graphic 
story: 

" Voted, That all the ammunition be de- 
posited in nine different towns in this prov- 
ince; that Worcester be one of them; that 
Lancaster be one, (N.B. Col. Whitcomb is 
there); that Concord be one; and, that 
Groton, Stoughtonham, Stow, Mendon, 
LfCicester and Sudbury, be the others. 

" Voted, That part of the provisions be 
removed from Concord, viz: 50 barrels of 
beef, from thence to Sudbury, with Deacon 
Plympton; 100 barrels of flour, of which 
what is in the malt house in Concord be 
part; 20 casks of rice; 15 hogsheads of 
molasses; 10 hogsheads of rum; 500 
candles. 

• •••••• 

" Voted, That the vote of the fourteenth 
instant, relating to the powder being re- 
moved from Leicester to Concord, be recon- 
sidered, and that the clerk be directed to 
write to Col. Barrett, accordingly, and to 
[^9] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

desire he would not proceed in making it 
up in cartridges. 

" Voted, That the musket balls under the 
care of Col. Barrett, be buried under the 
ground, in some safe place, that he be de- 
sired to do it, and to let the commissary only 
be informed thereof. 

" Voted, That the spades, pick-axes, 
bill-hooks, shovels, axes, hatchets, crows, 
and wheelbarrows, now at Concord, be 
divided, and one third remain in Concord, 
one third in Sudbury, and one third at 
Stow. 

• •••••• 

" Voted, That two medicinal chests still 
remain at Concord, at two different parts 
of the town; six do. at Groton, Mendon, 
and Stow, two in each town, and in different 
places; two ditto in Worcester, one in each 
part of the town; and, two in Lancaster, 
ditto ; that sixteen hundred yards of Russia 
linen be deposited in seven parts, with the 
doctor's chests; that the eleven hundred 
[80] 



The Midnight Bide 



tents be deposited in equal parts in Worces- 
ter, Lancaster, Groton, Mendon, Leicester, 
and Sudbury. 



" 1 



The transporting of the six pounders to 
Groton and the brass mortars to Acton car- 
ried an inference and a message of its own. 
It helps to account for the presence at the 
fight at Concord Bridge, on the 19th, of 
the minute men from these and other towns 
who could not readily have covered the dis- 
tance within so short a time, had their in- 
formation been due solely to Revere's alarm 
of the night before. But that the blow 
might be expected at almost any moment, 
Revere's tidings, brought on Sunday, made 
quickly apparent to the committees in ses- 
sion at Concord on Monday, two days 
before it fell. 

Many interesting stories have been 
handed down in tradition, and some of 
them have been treated by local historians 

^ Journal of the Committees of Safety and Supplies, 
pp. 516-517. 

[81] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

with far more seriousness than they de- 
serve, seeking to explain how it happened 
that the patriots should know so well the 
plans of the British on the night of the 
18th of April. One of these tales runs to 
the effect that a groom at the Province 
House, who happened to drop into a stable 
near by on Milk Street, was told by the 
stable-boy that he had overheard a conver- 
sation between Gage and other officers; 
" There will be hell to pay to-morrow," the 
jockey ventured to predict. It is alleged 
that this significant conversation was speed- 
ily repeated and carried to Paul Revere, 
who enjoined silence, and remarked to his 
informant: " You are the third person who 
has brought me the same information." ^ 
Another story has it that the great secret 
was revealed by an incautious sergeant- 
major in Gage's army quartered in the 
family of an Englishman, Jasper by name, 
who was secretly sympathetic toward the 
rebel cause, and who kept a gunsmith's 

^ Drake's Old Landmarks, p. 243. 
[82] 



The Midnight Bide 



shop in Hatter's Square, where he worked 
for the British. Jasper is said to have re- 
peated what he had gathered from the 
British officer to Colonel Josiah Waters, 
one of the patriot leaders, w^ho promptly 
made the facts known to the Committee of 
Safety.' 

But the most romantic theory that has 
been advanced to account for the fore- 
knowledge possessed by the patriots rela- 
tive to the British movements on the night 
of April 18 is based upon a statement of 
an early historian of the Revolution,^ that 
" a daughter of liberty, unequally yoked 
in point of politics, sent word by a trusty 
hand to Mr. Samuel Adams residing in 

^ The storywas published over the signature "C. C." 
— supposed to be Miss Catherine Curtis — in the New 
England Historical and Genealogical Register for 1853 
(Vol. 7, p. 139). The writer says that Colonel Waters 
"often told this story years after, to his then young 
friend, Joseph Curtis who is still [1853] living." 

^ William Gordon, D. D., The History of the Rise, 
Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the 
United States of America, etc.. Vol. 1, p. 309. 
[83] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

company with Mr. Hancock at Lexington 
about thirteen miles from Charlestown, that 
the troops were coming out in a few days." 
According to De Fonblanque, General Gage 
" was an amiable, well-meaning man of no 
military or administrative capacity, and of 
a weak character. Among other complaints 
made against him was that of being so com- 
pletely under the influence of his wife (the 
daughter of a colonist, Mr. Peter Kemble, 
president of the council of New Jersey) as 
habitually to confide to her his loyal pro- 
jects and correspondence with the ministry, 
which she, it was alleged, as habitually con- 
fided to his enemies." ^ Stedman, the Brit- 
ish historian of the Revolution, who was one 
of General Gage's commissioners in Boston, 
says : ^ 

" Gen. Gage on the evening of the 18th 
of April told Lord Percy that he intended 

^ Political and Military Episodes in the latter half of 
the 18th Century, Derived from the Life and Correspond- 
ence of the Rt. Hon. John Burgoyne, p. 11 6. 

^ History of the American War, p. 119. 
[84] 



The Midnight Bide 



to send a detachment to seize the stores at 
Concord, and to give the command to Col. 
Smith who knew that he was to go but not 
where. He meant it to be a secret expedi- 
tion, and begged of Lord Percy to keep it 
a profound secret. As this nobleman was 
passing from the general's quarters home 
to his own, perceiving eight or ten men 
conversing together on . the Common, he 
made up to them, when one of the men 
said : 

" * The British have marched; but will 
miss their aim.' 

What aim? ' said Lord Percy. 

Wh}^' the man rephed, ' the cannon at 
Concord.' 

" Lord Percy immediately returned on 
his steps, and acquainted Gen. Gage, not 
without marks of surprise and disapproba- 
tion of what he had just heard. The gen- 
eral said that his confidence had been 
betrayed, for that he had communicated 
his design to one person only beside his 
lordship." 

[85] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

These statements of Gordon, De Fon- 
blanque, and Stedman were dovetailed to- 
gether by Samuel A. Drake, the historian,^ 
who contended that in all probability it was 
Mrs. Gage who divulged the information 
to the patriot leaders of the proposed ex- 
pedition to Lexington and Concord. He 
thought it highly improbable to suppose 
that " Gen. Gage, who had used so much 
caution that he did not communicate his 
intentions to those officers whose co-opera- 
tion was essential, until the moment arrived 
for their execution, would have foolishly 
divulged them to some other officer or 
civilian." Drake continues: 

" But Gordon says intelligence was sent 
to Samuel Adams several days before the 
intended movement took place. That ' one 
other person ' must have been deep in the 
general's confidence; some one nearer than 
his most trusted officers; some one in high 
station, too, for the secret has been kept for 

^ Letter in the Boston Sunday Herald^ July 6, 
1879. 

[86] 



The Midnight Ride 



a century. It is certainly brought very near 
the general's person by his own declaration, 
made in a moment of extreme surprise and 
mortification. So far as known the general 
never divulged the name of the person who 
betrayed his confidence. He may have had 
strong reasons for his silence." 

This notion of Drake's that " the daugh- 
ter of liberty whose name should be hon- 
ored by every American at least, might have 
been no other than the wife of the British 
general-in-chief," was combated at once' 
by William W. Wheildon of Concord, 
whose researches into the local history of 
the time are exhaustive. He pointed out 
that the intended movement toward Lex- 
ington and Concord had been contemplated 
for weeks, and was a matter of common 
knowledge and gossip in Boston, being 
looked for daily, so that the only infor- 
mation relative to it which remained to be 
divulged was the precise time set by Gage 

* Boston Sunday Herald, July 13, 1879. 
[87 1 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

for putting the project into execution. The 
fact that the grenadier and Hght infantry 
companies had been taken off duty under 
pretence of learning some new exercises 
was itself sufficient to warn the Bostonians, 
and make them suspicious that preparations 
were at last actually under way for some- 
thing unusual. Wheildon contends that 
though Mrs. Gage was an American by 
birth, there is no reason whatever to sup- 
pose that she was a " daughter of liberty " 
in any sense of the term then in use in 
Boston. She had married in 1758, seven- 
teen 3^ears before, and long before the 
" Sons " or " Daughters "of Liberty were 
heard of; she had resided chiefly in Eng- 
land and Canada, and was in English so- 
ciety and politics till March, 1774; all her 
personal interests were British, and she 
undoubtedly loyally sympathized with her 
husband's efforts to sustain the government 
of the King in the interest of peace. The 
expression used by Gordon, "unequally 
yoked in politics," cannot fairly be said 
[88] 



The Midnight Bide 



to apply to her, while it might easily apply 
to the wives of numerous Tories. We have, 
moreover, only the authority of Gordon for 
this insinuation against Mrs. Gage, and it 
may have had no more foundation in fact 
than ordinary street rumors such as are al- 
ways plentiful in turbulent times. Wheil- 
don believed Stedman's story to be untrue, 
if for no better reason than that it is in- 
conceivable that Gage was not urged to 
undertake the expedition by those about 
him, and that therefore his officers knew 
somewhat, at least, of his plans. This 
writer cites evidence to show that the 
movement was expected, was provided for, 
and that the only information of value 
to be communicated was as to when the 
troops should start. He continues : >• 

" This was the secret that Gage kept to 
himself and Gordon says, * When the corps 
was nearly ready to proceed upon the expe- 
dition, Dr. Warren, by a mere accident, had 
notice of it just in time to send messengers 
[89] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

over the neck and across the ferry on to 
Lexington, before the orders for prevent- 
ing every person's quitting the town were 
executed.' 

" From what has been said, it is apparent 
that any message of the purport of that 
given by Gordon, if sent to Sam Adams, 
was wholly unnecessary and superfluous, 
for, in addition to the above proceedings, 
indicating what was expected on account 
of taking the troops to be employed off 
duty and the launching of the boats, a 
message of warning was sent to Hancock 
and Adams at Lexington on Sunday, the 
16th. And it was upon the strength of this 
message, and no other, that the committee 
of safety acted in the distribution of the 
stores and ammunition at Concord; this is 
distinctly shown by the proceedings of the 
committee on the Monday morning before 
and after Hancock joined them." ^ 

^ Wheildon dismissed De Fonblanque's aspersions 

upon Mrs. Gage as an unworthy fling of Burgoyne's 

biographer, " quite in keeping with the quaUty of his 

herd." 

[90j 



The Midnight Bide 



It is really of no importance whether 
these stories are true or not. The deduc- 
tions from them are quite superfluous. If 
they prove anything they reflect upon the 
intelligence and common-sense of the citi- 
zens of Boston by creating an assumption 
that the patriots must have had some direct 
and specific information from inside the 
British camp in order to be forewarned of 
the expedition, and that without such in- 
formation the country between Boston and 
Concord could not have been properly 
alarmed. But Warren and his lieutenants, 
the members of the Committee of Safety, 
and the patrolmen of the Sons of Liberty 
were not a set of blockheads. Every move 
of the British military was watched with 
hawk-eyed vigilance. The Somerset, man- 
of-war, was moved from the position she 
had been occupying out into the Charles 
River, so as to be able to cover with her 
guns the ferry-ways.^ There could be but 
one interpretation placed on this, — that it 

^ Salem Gazette, April 18, 1775. 
[91] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

was intended to guard against the very 
thing which happened, namely, successful 
communication between the Boston patriots 
and their colleagues in the country. It 
was, in short, impossible for the British to 
make an unusual stir such as was involved 
in the preparations for moving eight hun- 
dred troops out of Boston without that fact 
becoming instantly noised all over town. It 
is equally absurd to suppose that any one 
could have thought under the circumstances 
that the most likely destination of the troops 
was not Lexington and Concord. It is not 
at all necessary to invest this affair with any 
mystery, and to imagine that a stable-boy, 
an imprudent British sergeant-major, or the 
talkative wife of the commander of the 
King's forces divulged a great secret which 
could have been no secret to men of aver- 
age wit and powers of observation, espe- 
cially when such men were on the qui vive 
of suspicion and expectancy. 

No one can familiarize himself with the 
temper of the Boston populace on that 
[92] 




The Old North Church. 



The Midnight Bide 



April night, and with the character and 
personahty of Paul Revere, and not ap- 
preciate that in the whole town none was 
in a better position than he to know what 
the plans of the British were. He was in the 
thick of everything that was taking place. 
"On Tuesday evening, the 18th,"' he 
writes, " it was observed that a number of 
soldiers were marching toward the bottom 
of the Common," which meant that they 
were to be transported across the river to 
Charlestown or Cambridge, instead of mak- 
ing the long march around by way of Bos- 
ton Neck. No need of any lanterns being 
hung out in a church spire to inform him 
whether the red-coats were going by land 
or by sea! He knew all about this long 
before he got into his row-boat that night. 
But let him tell his own story: 

^ Revere's narrative ; first published as a letter to 
Jeremy Belknap, Secretary of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society, in 1798. See the Society Collections , 
Vol. 5, pp. 106-112. The narrative was republished in 
1878, Proceedings, Massachusetts Historical Society, 
Vol. 16, pp. 371-376. 

[93] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

" About ten o'clock, Dr. Warren sent in 
great haste for me, and begged that I 
would immediately set off for Lexington, 
where Messrs. Hancock and Adams were, 
and acquaint them of the movement, and 
that it was thought they were the objects. 
When I got to Dr. Warren's house,^ I 
found he had sent an express by land to 
Lexington — a Mr. William Dawes. The 
Sunday before, by desire of Dr. Warren, 
I had been to Lexington, to Messrs. Han- 
cock and Adams, who were at the Rev. 
Mr. Clark's. I returned at night through 
Charlestown; there I agreed with a Colonel 
Conant and some other gentlemen, that if 
the British went out by water, we would 
show two lanthorns in the North Church 
steeple and if by land, one as a signal; for 
we were apprehensive it would be difficult 
to cross the Charles River, or get over 
Boston Neck. I left Dr. Warren, called 
upon a friend, and desired him to make the 

* On the site of the present American House, on 
Hanover Street. 

[94] 



The Midnight Bide 



signals. I then went home, took my boots 
and surtout, went to the north part of the 
town, where I kept a boat; two friends 
rowed me across Charles River a little to 
the eastward where the Somerset man-of- 
war lay. It was then young flood, the ship 
was winding, and the moon rising. They 
landed me on the Charlestown side. When 
I got into town, I met Colonel Conant and 
several others; they said they had seen our 
signals. I told them what was acting, and 
went to get me a horse; I got a horse of 
Deacon Larkin." 

Revere has thus made it quite plain that 
the signals were agreed upon for the bene- 
fit, not of himself, who could have no pos- 
sible need for them, but of the waiting 
patriots on the Charlestown shore, who, 
when they should see the light or lights, 
might be trusted to carry the news to Lex- 
ington and Concord in the event of no one 
being able to cross the river or get through 
the British lines by the land route over 
[95] 



TJie True Story of Paul Bevere 

Boston Neck. From the spot where Re- 
vere landed on the Charlestown shore the 
steeple of Christ Church was plainly vis- 
ible, yet he does not mention seeing the 
signals, though taking pains to record that 
others had seen them. Certainly curiosity 
could have been his only motive for looking 
for the lights, and the fact that he makes 
no minute of seeing them may well be 
taken as evidence that the lanterns had 
already been displayed and withdrawn ere 
he reached the Charlestown shore. The ar- 
rangement, he says, was that " we would 
show ^' the lanterns, not that they would be 
hung out and left for an indefinite length 
of time; moreover, his friends, when he 
jumped out of his boat, said that they 
" had seen " the signals. If they were still 
visible, what more natural than that Re- 
vere's attention should be called to them as 
a matter of curiosity, and that in that 
event he should have mentioned it in his 
very circumspect narrative? We know that 
the lights were not displayed for Revere's 
[96] 



The Midnight Bide 



benefit, and, when we take into considera- 
tion all the circumstances and the language 
of Revere's narrative, it is scarcely reason- 
able to suppose that Revere himself ever 
saw the signals. 

In view of all these facts, for which 
Revere himself is our chief authority, we 
perceive that Longfellow drew liberally 
from his imagination when he penned the 
lines : 



Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride. 
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride 
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. ^ 
Now he patted his horse's side. 
Now gazed at the landscape far and near. 
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth. 
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth ; 
But mostly he watched with eager search 
The belfry-tower of the Old North Church, 
As it rose above the graves on the hill. 
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still, 
**^And lo ! as he looks, on the belfry's height 
"^^ A glimmer, and then a gleam of light ! 

He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns. 
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight 
A second lamp in the belfry burns ! 

T [97] 



The True Story of Paul Revere ; 



Revere's story is to the effect that as soon 
as he could procure a horse he started upon 
his journey without further delay. " While 
the horse was preparing," he says, " Richard 
Devens, Esq., who was one of the Commit- 
tee of Safety, came to me, and told me that 
he came down the road from Lexington, 
after sundown, that evening; that he met 
ten British officers, all well mounted and 
armed, going up the road. I set off upon 
a very good horse; it was then about 11 
o'clock, and very pleasant." Devens him- 
self left a memorandum of his experiences 
on that evening.^ Says he: 

" On the 18th of April, 75, Tuesday, the 
committee of safety, of which I was then a 
member, and the committee of supplies, sat 
at NewelFs tavern, [the records of the com- 
mittee say Wetherby's] at Menotomy. A 
great number of British officers dined at 
Cambridge. After we had finished the busi- 

^ This was brought to Hght and first published in 
Richard Frothingham's Siege of Boston. See edition 
of 1896, p. 57. 

[98 1 



The Midnight Bide 



ness of the day, we adjourned to meet at 
Woburn on the morrow, — left to lodge at 
NewelFs, Gerry, Orne and Lee. Mr. Wat- 
son and myself came off in my chaise at 
sunset. On the road we met a great num- 
ber of B.O. [British officers] and their ser- 
vants on horseback, who had dined that day 
at Cambridge. We rode some way after 
we met them, and then turned back and 
rode through them, went and informed our 
friends at NewelFs. We stopped there till 
they came up and rode by. We then left 
our friends, and I came home, after leaving 
Mr. Watson at his house. I soon received 
intelligence from Boston, that the enemy 
were all in motion, and were certainly pre- 
paring to come out into the country. Soon 
afterward, the signal agreed upon was 
given; this was a lanthorn hung out in the 
upper window of the tower of the N. Ch. 
[North Church] towards Charlestown. I 
then sent off an express to inform Messrs 
Gerry &c., and Messrs Hancock and A., 
[Adams] who I knew were at the Rev. 
[99] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Mr. [Clark's] at Lexington, that the 

enemy were certainly coming out. I kept 
watch at the ferry to watch for the boats 
till about eleven o'clock, when Paul Revere 
came over and informed that the T. [troops] 
were actually in the boats. I then took a 
horse from Mr. Larkin's barn, and sent him. 
I procured a horse and sent off P. Revere ^ 
to give the intelligence at Menotomy and< 
Lexington. He was taken by the British/ 
officers before mentioned, before he got to 
Lexington." ^ 

Thus we have seen that Dr. Warren 
sent two messengers out to Lexington that 
night, — Revere and Dawes, — and that 
for fear both of them might be captured, 
an arrangement had been made to notify 
other patriots in Charlestown by displaying 
lanterns from the North Church spire. Had 
misfortune therefore befell the specially 
commissioned messengers, there can be no 

^ This is a curious error of Devens*. " Concord '* 
should of course be substituted in this sentence for 
" Lexington." 

[100] 



The Midnight Bide 



doubt that others would have carried the 
tidings out through the Middlesex villages, 
arousing the inhabitants, and warning Han- 
cock and Adams at Lexington. To say this 
in the interest of the sober truth of history- 
is no disparagement of the services rendered 
the cause of liberty by Revere on that fa- 
mous night. To him probably belongs the 
credit for possessing the foresight which 
suggested and arranged for the display of 
the signal lights, while Dr. Warren's pre- 
science is seen in his despatching of Dawes 
with the important news to Lexington and 
his subsequent sending of Revere on the 
same errand by a different route, thus pro- 
viding against the contingency of Dawes' 
capture. All of these safeguards together 
proved in the event to have been unneces- 
sary; yet all served their purpose, though 
any one without the others would have suf- 
ficed. Each of the actors in this little cur- 
tain-raising performance, preceding the first 
act in the great drama of the Revolution to 
be played next day on Lexington Green 
[ 101 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

and at Concord Bridge, executed his part 
well, with courage, skill, intelligence, and 
patriotism. 

To return to the story of Revere's ride. 
Mounted on Deacon Larkin's horse, he set 
off to alarm the country, but had not gone 
far on the road through Charlestown when 
he discerned just ahead of him two British 
officers. He turned quickly, and, though 
pursued, made good his escape, passing 
through Medford and up to Menotomy 
(now Arlington). "In Medford," he re- 
cords, " I awaked the captain of the minute 
men ; and after that, I alarmed almost every 
house, till I got to Lexington." This quite 
agrees with the stirring lines of the poet: 

A hurry of hoofs m a village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark. 

And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 

Struck out by a steed flying fearless, and fleet : 

That was all ! And yet, through the gloom and the light, 

The fate of a nation was riding that night. 

The incidents in connection with the 
alarming of Hancock and Adams at the 
[ 102 ] 



The Midnight Bide 



Rev. Mr. Clark's house, and the other epi- 
sodes of that night and the early dawn 
which brought bloodshed with it, have been 
preserved for posterity by the narratives of 
three contemporary witnesses and partici- 
pants, — the Rev. Jonas Clark (at whose 
house Hancock and Adams were lodging), 
the reminiscences of Dorothy Quincy, who 
was also staying at Mr. Clark's, and Re- 
vere's own account. Besides these there is 
a collection of depositions of the survivors 
of the battle of Lexington, taken some 
years after the event. One of the most 
interesting of these depositions was that of 
William Monroe, an orderly sergeant in 
Captain Parker's company of minute-men.^ 
He says he learned early in the evening of 
the 18th that British soldiers had been seen 
on the road from Boston, and continues: 

" I supposed they had some design upon 
Hancock and Adams, who were at the house 

^ Phinney's History of the Battle of Lexington, pub- 
lished in 1825, p. SS. 

[103] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

of the Rev. Mr. Clark, and immediately as- 
sembled a guard of eight men, with their 
arms, to guard the house. About midnight, 
Col. Paul Revere rode up and requested ad- 
mittance. I told him the family had just 
retired, and had requested that they might 
not be disturbed by any noise about the 
house. 

"'Noise!' said he, 'you'll have noise 
y enough before long. The regulars are 

coming out.' 

" We then permitted him to pass." 

A year after the battle the Rev. Mr. 
Clark preached a sermon ^ commemorative 
of the event, and prepared for publication 

^ The complete title of the pamphlet edition runs : 
" A Sermon preached at Lexington, April 19, 1776. To 
Commemorate the MURDER, BLOODSHED, and 
Commencement of Hostilities, between Great Britain 
and America, in that Town, by a Brigade of Troops of 
George HI, under Command of Lieutenant-Colonel 
SMITH, on the Nineteenth of April, 1775. To which 
is added A Brief NARRATIVE of the principal Trans- 
actions of that Day. By JONAS CLARK, A. M. 
Pastor of the Church in Lexington." 
[ 104 ] 



The Midnight Bide 



in connection therewith " a brief narrative 
of the principal transactions of that day." 
He told the story in this fervid fashion: 

" On the evening of the eighteenth of 
April, 1775, we received two messages, the 
first verbal,^ the other by express in writ- 
ing from the Committe of safety, who were 
then sitting in the westerly part of Cam- 
bridge, directed to the Honorable John 
HANCOCK, Esq; (who, with the Honor- 
able SAMUEL AD AIMS, Esq; was then 
providentially with us) informing, * that 
eight or nine oncers of the king's troops 
were seen, just before night, passing the 
road towards Leamington, in a musing, con- 
templative posture; and it was suspected 
they were out upon some evil design.' 

^ Paul Revere was without doubt the bearer of the 
verbal message ; the message in writing was probably 
the same referred to by Richard Devens as having been 
sent by him. Revere apparently arrived first, but had 
he been waylaid we here have evidence that Hancock 
and Adams would have received due warning of the 
approach of the British. 

[105] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

" As both these gentlemen had been fre- 
quently and even publicly threatened, by the 
enemies of this people, both in England and 
America, with the vengeance of the British 
administration: — And as Mr. Hancock in 
particular had been, more than once, per- 
sonally insulted, by some officers of the 
troops, in Boston, it was not without some 
just grounds supposed, that under cover of 
the darkness, sudden arrest, if not assassi- 
nation might be attempted by these instru- 
ments of tyrrany! 

" To prevent anything of this kind, ten 
or twelve men were immediately collected, 
in arms, to guard my house, through the 
night. 

" In the meantime, said officers passed 
through this town, on the road towards 
Concord: It was therefore thought expe- 
dient to watch their motions, and if pos- 
sible make some discovery of their inten- 
tions. Accordingly about 10 o'clock in the 
evening, three men, on horses, were dis- 
patched for this purpose. As they were 
[106] 



The Midnight Bide 



peaceably passing the road towards Con- 
cord, in the borders of Lincoln, they were 
suddenly stopped by said officers, who rode 
up to them, and putting pistols to their 
breasts and seizing their horses bridles, 
swore, if they stirred another step, they 
should he all dead 7nen! — The officers de- 
tained them several hours, as prisoners, 
examined, searched, abused and insulted 
them; and in their hasty return (suppos- 
ing themselves discovered) they left them 
in Lexington. — Said officers also took into 
Custody, abused and threatened with their 
lives several other persons; some of whom 
they met peaceably passing on the road, 
others even at the doors of their dwellings, 
without the least provocation, on the part 
of the inhabitants, or so much as a ques- 
tion asked by them. 

" Between the hours of twelve and one, 
on the morning of the NINETEENTH 
OF APRIL, we received intelligence, by 
express from the Honorable JOSEPH 
WARREN Esq; at Boston, that a large 
[ 107 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

body of the king's troops (supposed to be 
a brigade of about 12 or 1500) were em- 
barked in boats from Boston, and gone 
over to land on Lechmere's-Point (so- 
called) in Cambridge: And that it was 
shrewdly suspected, that they were ordered 
to seize and destroy the stores, belonging 
to the colony, then deposited at Concord, in 
consequence of General Gage's unjustifi- 
able seizure of the provincial magazine of 
powder at Medford, and other colony stores 
in several other places. . . ." 

More than forty-seven years after the 
battle of Lexington she who was Miss 
Quincy in 1775 was a guest at a little 
dinner party in Boston given by Mr. 
Stephen Codman. Left a widow by John 
Hancock, she had married again, and her 
second husband. Captain Scott, was now 
also deceased. Madame Scott on this oc- 
casion entertained the party with many 
reminiscences of her first husband and the 
revolutionary period, and one of the other 
[108] 



The Midnight Bide 



guests, General William H. Sumner, was 
so impressed with the importance of pre- 
serving what she said that he resolved, be- 
fore going to bed that night, to jot down 
an account of what fell from her lips. He 
wrote in part ^ as follows : 

" Mrs. Scott, at this time [April, 1775] 
was a young maiden lady of the name of 
Quincy, to whom Mr. Hancock was paying 
his suit. Mrs. Hancock, the aunt of the 
Governor and the widow of his uncle 
Thomas Hancock (as lady-like a woman 
as ever Boston bred, she observed) was 
her particular friend and protectress, (her 
mother being dead,) was also at Lexing- 
ton, at the same house. She observed that 
Dr. Warren sent out a message in the 
evening that they must take care of them- 
selves, and give the alarm through the 
country, for Gen. Gage had ordered a 

^ General Sumner's memoranda was not published 
for many years afterward. It appeared in the Neiv 
England Historical and Genealogical Register for April, 
1854 (Vol. 8, pp. 187-191). 
[ 109 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

force to march that night to Concord, to 
destroy the stores. Paul Revere, Esq., 
brought the message, and arrived there 
about 12 o'clock." ' 

^ General Sumner's narrative^ while it has no more 
to say of Paul Revere, is interesting enough to quote 
further here : 

" Mr. Hancock [he continues] gave the alarm imme- 
diately, and the Lexington bell was rung all night ; and 
before light about one hundred and fifty men were 
collected. Mr. H. was all the night cleaning his gun 
and sword, and putting his accoutrements in order, and 
was determined to go out to the plain by the meeting- 
house, where the battle was, to fight with the men who 
had collected, but who, she says, were but partially 
provided with arms, and those they had were in most 
miserable order ; and it was with very great difficulty 
that he was dissuaded from it by Mr. Clark and Mr. 
Adams, the latter clapping him on the shoulder, said 
to him, ' that is not our business ; we belong to the 
cabinet.* It was not till break of day that Mr. H. 
could be persuaded that it was improper for him to 
expose himself against such a powerful force ; but, over- 
come by the entreaties of his friends who convinced 
him that the enemy would indeed triumph, if they 
could get him and Mr. Adams in their power ; and 
finding, by the enquiries of a British officer (a fore- 
runner of the army), who asked where Clark's tavern 
was, that he was one of their objects, he, with Mr. 
[110] 



The Midnight Bide 



But let us follow Revere's adventures 
after his rousing of Hancock and Adams 
at the Clark house in his own language: 

" After I had been there about half an 
hour M^ Dawes arrived, who came from 

Adams, went over to Woburn, to the Rev. Mr. Jones, 
1 think she said. The ladies remained and saw the 
battle commence. Mrs. Scott says the British fired 
first, she is sure. This was a point much contested at 
the time, and many depositions were taken to prove the 
fact that the British were the actual aggressors. One 
of the first British bullets whizzed by old Mrs. Hancock's 
head, as she was looking out of the door, and struck the 
barn ; she cried out. What is that ? they told her it 
was a bullet, and she must take care of herself. Mrs. 
Scott was at the chamber window looking at the fight. 
She says two of the wounded men were brought into 
the house. One of them, whose head was grazed by a 
ball, insisted that he was dead ; the other, who was 
shot in the arm, behaved better. The first was more 
scared than hurt. 

" After the British passed on towards Concord, they 
received a letter from Mr. H. informing them where 
he and Mr. Adams were, wishing them to get into the 
carriage and come over and bring the ^7ie salmon that 
they had had sent to them for dinner. This they carried 
over in the carriage, and had got it nicely cooked and were 

[111] 



/ 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Boston, over the neck; we set off for Con- 
cord, & were overtaken by a young gent"^ 

just sitting down to it, when in came a man from Lex- 
ington, whose house was upon the main road, and who 
cleared out, leaving his wife and family at home, as 
soon as he saw the British bayonets glistening as they 
descended the hills on their return from Concord. Half 
frightened to death, he exclaimed, 'The British are 
coming ! the British are coming ! my wife 's in etarnity 
now.' Mr. H. and Mr. Adams supposing the British 
troops were at hand, went into the swamp and staid 
till the alarm was over. 

" Upon their return to the house, Mrs. Scott told Mr. 
H. that having left her father in Boston, she should 
return to him to-morrow. ' No, madam,' said he, ' you 
shall not return as long as there is a British 
bayonet left in Boston.' She, with the spirit of a 
woman, said, ' Recollect Mr. Hancock, I am not under 
your control yet. I shall go in to my father to-morrow ;' 
for, she said, at that time I should have been very glad 
to have got rid of him, but her aunt, as she afterwards 
was, would not let her go. She did not go into Boston 
for three years afterwards ; for when they left this part 
of the country, they went to Fairfield, in Connecticut, 
and staid with Mr. Burr, the uncle of Aaron Burr, who 
was there. Aaron, she says, was very attentive to her, 
and her aunt was very jealous of him, lest he should 
gain her affections, and defeat her purpose of connecting 
her with her nephew. Mr. Burr, she said, was a hand- 
[112] 



The Midnight Bide 



named Prescot, who belonged to Concord, 
& was going home; when we had got about 
half way from Lexington to Concord, the 
other two, stopped at a House to awake 
the man, I kept along, when I had got 
about 200 yards ahead of them; I saw two 
officers as before, I called to my company 
to come up, saying here was two of them 
(for I had told them what M^ Devens told 
me, and of my being stoped) in an instant, 
I saw four of them, who rode up to me, 

with their pistols in their hands, said G d 

d n you stop if you go an inch further, 

you are a dead Man,' immeaditly M^ Pres- 
cot came up we attempted to git thro them, 
but they kept before us, and swore if we 
did not turn into that pasture, they would 
blow our brains out, (they had placed them- 
selves opposite to a pair of Barrs, and had 

some young man, of very pretty fortune, but her aunt 
would not leave them a moment together, and in August 
she married Mr. H., and went on to Philadelphia, to the 
Congress, of which Mr. H. was President at the time 
she married him." 

8 [113] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

taken the Barrs down) they forced us in, 
when we had got in, M^ Preseot said put 
on. He took to the left, I to the right 
towards a wood, at the bottom of the Pas- 
ture intending, when I gained that, to jump 
my Horse & run afoot; just as I reached 
it, out started six officers, seized my bridle, 
put their Pistols to my Breast, ordered me 
to dismount, which I did: One of them, 
who appeared to have the Command there, 
and much of a Gentleman, asked me where 
I came from; I told him, he asked what 
time I left it, I told him, he seemed sur- 
prised said S^' may I have your name, I 
answered my name is Revere, what said he, 
Paul Revere; I answered yes; the others 
abused much, but he told me not to be 
afraid, no one should hurt me; I told him 
they would miss their aim. He said they 
should not, they were only awaiting for 
some deserters they expected down the 
Road; I told him I knew better, I knew 
what they were after; that I had alarmed 
the country all the way up, that their Boats 
[114] 



The Midnight Ride 



were catch'd aground, and I should have 
JO men there soon; one of them said they 
had 1,500 coming: he seemed surprised and 
rode off into the road, and informed them 
who took me, they came down immeaditly 
on a full gallop, one of them (whom I 
since learned was Major Mitchell of the 
5th Reg.) Clap^^ his Pistol to my head, and 
said he was going to ask me some ques- 
tions, if I did not tell him the truth, he 
would blow my brains out. I told him I 
esteemed myself a Man of truth, that he 
had stopped me on the highway, & made 
me a prisoner, I knew not by what right; 
I would tell him the truth; I was not 
afraid; He then asked me, the same ques- 
tions that the other did, and many more, 
but was more particular; I gave him much 
the same answers; he then Ordered me to 
mount my horse, they first searched me for 
pistols, when I was mounted the Major 
took the reins out of my hand, and said by 

G d S^ you are not to ride with reins 

I assure you; and gave them to an officer 
[115] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

on my right, to lead me, he then Ordered 
4 men out of the Bushes, & to mount their 
horses; they were countrymen whom they 
had stopped, who were going home; then 
ordered us to march. He said to me ' We 
are now going towards your friends, and 
if you attempt to run, or we are insulted, 
we will blow your Brains out.' When we 
had got into the Road they formed a circle, 
and ordered the prisoners in the centre, & 
to lead me in the front. We rid towards 
Lexington, a quick pace; They very often 
insulted me calling me Rebel &c. &c. after 
we had got about a mile, I was given to 
the Serjant, to lead, he was Ordered to 
take out his pistol, (he rode with a hanger,) 
and if I ran, to execute the major's sen- 
tence; When we got within about half a 
mile of the meeting house, we heard a gun 
fired; the Major asked me what it was for, 
I told him to alarm the country; he or- 
dered the four prisoners to dismount, they 
did, then one of the officers dismounted and 
cutt the Bridles, and saddels, off the Horses, 
[116] 



The Midnight Bide 



& drove them away, and told the men they 
might go about their business; I asked the 
Major to dismiss me, he said he would carry 
me, lett the consequence be what it will. 
He then Ordered us to march, when we 
got within sight of the meeting House, we 
heard a Volley of guns fired, as I supposed 
at the tavern, as an alarm; the Major or- 
dered us to halt, he asked me how far it 
was to Cambridge, and many more ques- 
tions, which I answered; he then asked the 
Serjant, if his horse was tired, he said yes; 
he Ordered him to take my horse; I dis- 
mounted, the Serjant mounted my horse; 
they cutt the Bridles & Saddle of the Ser- 
jants horse, & rode off, down the road. I 
then went to the house where I left Mes^ 
Adams and Hancock, and told them what 
had happined, their friends advised them 
to go out of the way; I went with them, 
about two miles across road: after resting 
myself I sett off with another man to go 
back to the Tavern; to enquire the News; 
when we got there, we were told the troops 
[117] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

were, within two miles. We went into the 
Tavern to git a Trunk of papers, belong- 
ing to Col. Hancock, before we left the 
House, I saw the ministeral Troops from 
the Chamber window, we made haste, & 
had to pass thro' our Militia, who were on 
a green behind the meeting house, to the 
number as I supposed, about 50 or 60. I 
went thro them; as I passed I heard the 
commanding officer speake to his men to 
this purpose, * Lett the troops pass by, & 
don't molest them, without They begin first.' 
I had to go a cross Road, but had not got 
half Gun shot off, when the Ministeral 
Troops appeared in sight, behinde the 
Meeting House; they made a short halt, 
when one gun was fired, I heard the re- 
port, turned my head, and saw the smoake 
in front of the Troops, they imeaditly gave 
a great shout, ran a few paces, and then the 
whole fired. I could first distinguish Ireg- 
ular fireing, which I supposed was the ad- 
vance guard, and then platoons, at this 
time I could not see our Militia for they 
[118] 



The Midnight Bide 



were covered from me, by a house at the 
bottom of the Street." ^ 

This was the " battle " of Lexington, — 
fifty provincials exchanging a few shots 
with eight hundred of the King's troops, 
who then marched on to Concord, only to 
find, after a bloody encounter, that the most 
valuable of the stores they had come to seize 
or destroy had, thanks to the timely warn- 
ing of Paul Revere three days before, been 
already removed to places of safety. 

On the day following these events Revere 
was permanently engaged by Dr. Warren, 
president of the Committee of Safety, " as 

^ This account is from Revere's manuscript found in 
the family papers, and is supposed to have been written 
in 1783, eight years after the events recorded occurred. 
In 1798 Revere sent a revised account to Jeremy Belk- 
nap, secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
as noted on a preceding page. The revised account is 
the one best known and usually quoted, but it is not 
so complete in its detailed narration of Revere's adven- 
tures in the latter part of the night of April 18-19 as the 
original, while the latter is less complete than the letter 
to Belknap with respect to the preparations for the ride. 
[119] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

a messenger to do the outdoors business for 
that committee." ^ We have no record up 
to this time of Revere having rendered other 
than gratuitous service in the long journeys 
he took in behalf of the patriot cause, being 
content with the satisfaction of having per- 
formed a duty to his country. Whether he 
had now reached the conclusion, as we are 
well aware some of the other men whom his- 
tory has written down as heroes did, that 
even patriotic service has a commercial value 
that the state should recognize, it may be 
unbecoming to pass judgment; but this we 
know, that henceforth he proposed to charge 
for his messenger service. He appears to 
have been prospering in his business at this 
period, and, no doubt, he felt that he was 
not called upon to neglect it, with the large 
family he had to support, for the public 
service without some financial recompense. 
From the promptness with which his bill 
was audited, we may assume that his em- 
ployers did not quarrel with this point of 

* Narrative letter to Jeremy Belknap. 
[120] 



«1 
•(4 





1^ ^ ^ -J^^ V 



~i -I 



'Q. 






. ^ 



v^> 



^■ 



"^ 






I t^ 



iXl 



oi 



The Midnight Bide 



view. But that they thought he was dis- 
posed to value his labors too highly is also 
evident, for they reduced his charge for 
riding as a messenger from the amount 
asked, five shillings, to four shillings, a day. 
This bill, one of many such documents pre- 
served in the archives at the State House in 
Boston, is faded by time, but the handwrit- 
ing of Revere and the endorsement on the 
back, with the signatures of James Otis, 
Samuel and John Adams, and the other 
members of the Council in approval, stands 
out clear and distinct. This bill, with the 
Council's comments, is as follows: 

"1775. The Colony of Massachusetts 
Bay to Paul Revere, Dr. 

To riding for the Com- 
mittee of Safety from 
April 21 1775 to May 
7th, 17 days at 5/. .450 

To my expenses for self 
& horse during that 

time 2 16 

[m] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

May 6th To keeping two Colony- 
Horses 10 day at 1 / 
pr horse 1 00 

Aug. 2d, To Printing 1000 im- 
pressions at 6/ pr 
Hundd, Soldiers Notes 3 00 

11 1 

" Errors Excepted 

" Paul Revere." 

" N. B. ye Government does not charge 
ye charges of Impressions for ye Money 
emitted for other Uses than ye Army. 

" reduced his Labour to 4j per day." 

The comments of the Council upon the 
original bill as made out by Revere show 
the care with which the expenditures were 
guarded. Revere evidently did not, when 
he first submitted this bill, indicate the pur- 
pose for which the " impressions " printed 
by him and charged up to the colony was 
intended, so a memorandum was made at 
the bottom of the bill calling attention to 
[122] 



The Midnight Bide 



the fact that only the printing of money 
for the use of the army would be paid for. 
Doubtless inquiry developed that Revere's 
charge was in accordance with this under- 
standing, though he had neglected to so 
itemize it; and the explanatory words, 
" Soldiers Notes," were added afterward. 
The record of the appropriation made to 
cover the bill, after the total had been 
reduced to ten pounds, four shillings, is 
inscribed on the back of the original, and 
is to this effect: 

" In the House of Representatives, Aug- 
ust 22d 1775. Resolved that Mr. Paul Re- 
vere be allowed & paid out of the publick 
Treasury of this Colony ten pound four 
shilling in full discharge of the within 
account." 

This document was promptly sent up to 
the Council for concurrence, being signed 
by James Warren, Speaker, and Samuel 
Adams, Secretary. The Council concurred 
and the back of the paper bears the indorse- 
[123] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

ment of the councillors: James Otis, W. 
Sever, B. Greenleaf, W. Spooner, J. Win- 
throp, T. Gushing, John Adams, Saml 
Adams, Joseph Gerrish, John Whetcomb, 
Jedh Foster, Eldad Taylor, M. Farley, J. 
Palmer, S. Holten. 



[124] 



IV— THE CITIZEN AND SOLDIER 

1775-1777 

IMMEDIATELY after the battle of 
Lexington Revere decided to take up 
his residence for a time in Charles- 
town, conceiving, no doubt, that this would 
be a more congenial place of abode during 
the troublous times then upon the country 
than Boston, where persons known to be in 
sympathy with the patriots were having life 
made not particularly comfortable for them 
by the royalist authorities and the red-coat 
soldiery. So Revere told his wife to pack 
up the household goods, and leave his shop 
in the custody of a friend, who was given 
leave to conduct the business for himself. 
He wrote his wife : ^ 

^ Letters from the papers of John Revere, a grand- 
son of Paul. Copied and first published in full in Goss' 
Life, Vol. 1, p. 261 et seq. 

[125] 



The True Story of Paul Severe 

" My Dear Girl 

" I receiv^ your favor yesterday. I am 
glad you have got yourself ready. If you 
find that you cannot easily get a pass for 
the Boat, I would have you get a pass for 
yourself and children and effects. Send the 
most valuable first. I mean that you should 
send Beds enough for yourself and Chil- 
dren, my chest, your trunk, with Books, 
Cloaths &c to the ferry tell the ferryman 
they are mine. I will provide a house here 
where to put them & will be here to receive 
them, after Beds are come over, come with 
the Children, except Paul, pray order him 
by all means to keep at home that he may 
help bring the things to the ferry, tell him 
not to come till I send for him. You must 
hire somebody to help you. You may get 
brother Thomas, lett Isaac Clemens if he 
is a mind to take care of the shop and main- 
tain himself there, he may, or do as he has 
a mind, put sugar in a Raisin cask or some 
such thing & such necessarys as we shall 
want. Tell Betty, My Mother, Mrs. Met- 
[126] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

calf if they think to stay, as we talked at 
first, tell them I will supply them with all 
the cash & other things in my power but if 
they think to come away, I will do all in 
my power to provide for them, perhaps be- 
fore this week is out there will be liberty 
for Boats to go to Notomy, and then we 
can take them all. If you send the things 
to the ferry send enough to fill a cart, them 
that are the most wanted. Give Mrs. Met- 
calf [the letter is torn at this place] in, their 
part of the money I dont remember the 
sums, but perhaps they can. I want some 
Hnnen and stockings very much. Tell Paul 
I expect he '1 behave himself well and at- 
tend to my business, and not be out of the 
way. My Kind love to our parents & our 
Children Brothers & Sisters & all friends." 

To his fifteen-year old son Paul, Revere 
added this postscript: 

" My Son. 

"It is now in your power to be service- 
able to me, your Mother and yourself. I 
[127] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

beg you will keep yourself at home or where 
your Mother sends you. Dont you come 
away till I send you word. When you 
bring anything to the ferry tell them it is 
mine & mark it with my name. 

" Your loving Father 
" P. R." 

It would appear from these admonitions 
to young Paul that that young man was ad- 
dicted to running away from home. Prob- 
ably he stayed out nights with the other boys 
of the North End. Certainly there were 
plenty of exciting things to talk about and 
prowl into in those stirring weeks to tempt 
the adventurous spirit of any normally con- 
stituted boy. Without a doubt Paul, Jr., 
was a chip of the parental block. 

There was some further correspondence 
between Revere and his wife relative to the 
securing of the necessary passes for the 
ferrying of herself, family, and household 
goods across the river to Charlestown, and 
we may assume that the little expedition 
[128] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

reached its destination in safety. Quite 
likely the family remained in this retreat 
until after the evacuation of Boston by the 
British in March, 1776. 

Revere's exploits in the colony's service 
had attracted wide attention and were even 
chronicled in the London newspapers, as 
appears from this letter, found in the 
family papers, from his cousin, probably 
John Rivoire, of the isle of Guernsey: 

"Guernsey y® 12<^^ Jany, 1775. 

" Mr PAUL RIVOIRE 

" Dear Cousin, 
" Several years are Elapsed since I had 
the pleasure of receiving any of your favors. 
I wish heartily in future we may not be so 
long silent, but renew mutually a fresh cor- 
respondence. Perusing the London New 
Papers of y^ 15 Nov^ last, I observed a 
Paragraf wherein I found your name 
though spelt Revere; having by me one 
of your former Letters wherein you men- 
tioned *your Father made this alteration 
9 [ 129 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

merely on account the Bumpkins should 
pronounce it easier.' By this I was fully 
convinced it must be you. It appears by 
s^ Paragraf you are Deputy (or Express) 
from y® Congress of Boston to Philadel- 
phia, as s^ Paragraf says thus : ' This Day 
arrived Mr. Paul Bevere express from the 
Congress of Boston who brought the agree- 
able News General Gage had desisted from 
Building the Brick Wall near Boston and 
had dismissed the workmen.' It seems by 
this D^ Cousin you are a person in good 
Circumstances and without doubt you have 
many friends at Boston and other places on 
the Continent and perhaps at S^ Crus other- 
wise S^ Croix, a Danish Island in the West 
Indies. I should take it very kind you 
would recommend me to them in Consign- 
ing to my House a Cargo (or Cargoes) of 
Bum either from New England or the West 
India Islands there is not the least fear of 
Profit as Guernsey is free from all dutys 
and a vast Trade carried on by the Smug- 
glers from here to the Coast of England, 
[130] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

we have some Vessells who are always Im- 
ploy'd from here to St. Croix for Rum. 
Your friends may depend on my Integrity 
and Honor & Quick remitances in the 
House they may Order. Good New Eng- 
land Rum would sell well here but would 
not fetch so much as St. Croix or other 
Island of the West Indies. White Oake 
Pipe Staves answer well here and might be 
loaded in lieu of stowing Wood. I dont 
in the least doubt you doing your utmost 
to oblige me therefore will treat on another 
subject. 

"My only brother Will^ Rivoire who 
commanded a New Vessell British Built, 
half our property, was never heard off 
since his sailing from Quebec 16 Nov^ 
1771. by this fatal Accident I 'm the only 
male Revoire remaining on this Island and 
Bachelor at 40 years of Age. we had also 
another Vessell the whole of our property, 
both these Vessells were Imploy'd in the 
Wine way from Barcelona to Quebec & 
from thence with Wheat to s^ Barcelona. 
[131] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

Unluckily my s^ Deceased Broth^ Kept me 
in Ignorance of all his Transactions and 
always kept Noble Men's company as far 
as the Vice Roy of Barcelona with whom 
I have lost money, by this Indiscretion I 
have considerably lost Money, by others I 
have been obliged to pay since my Broth^^ 
Death near £1500 Sterling. You must 
Immagine this must have reduced me but 
in Order there should be no Slurr on the 
Name of Rivoire, has justly paid every one, 
without being obliged to be put to shame by 
Bankruptcy. Our Cousin Mathias Rivoire 
of Martel near St. Foy 14 or 15 Leagues 
from Bordeaux writes me there is one M^ 
Rivoire of New England now in France. 
Undoubtedly it must be one of your Broth^^ 
or your Son, that the said has wrote him in 
order to discover and recover what may be 
y^ Father's Claims in those Parts of which 
he says he is Ignorant. I should be very 
glad to see this Rivoire in Guernsey or know 
how to direct for him in France. We have 
other relations at a place call^ Riancaut very 
[132] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

rich and the whole of their Estate should by 
Right be my property as Heir of the Eldest 
Son. My Grandfather Simon Rivoire who 
defrayed all expenses and sent your father 
who they called Apollos to Boston to learn 
the Goldsmith Trade. You and me cannot 
expect anything from those Parts, it is so 
long since our Friends left their Estates in 
the time of Persecution that it would be 
needless. [From this point to its conclu- 
sion the letter is torn.] " 

This letter was followed four months 
later by the following: 

"Guernsey, y® 12*^ April 1775. 

" M^ PAUL RIVOIRE 

" Z)^ Cousin 
" I wrote you y® 12 January last by New 
York Packet which hope you have received 
and beg your favorable answer. Wheat 
having been very dear in Europe this long 
while and specially in Old England and of 
course at Guernsey I 'm certain if you or 
any of your friends should send a cargo to 
[ 133 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

this place to my consignment they might 
expect a reasonable profit. It sells here at 
present 4/6: our Bushel 42% weight for 
your and your friends Government. Re- 
ferring to what I have before wrote you, 
I remain 

" Your sincere and Loving Cousin 

" John Rivoire. 
" Excuse haste as this 

goes by Man of War." 

What response if any Revere made to 
these letters we do not know. It may be 
that the hurrying events of the Revolution 
occupied his mind and his energies too 
much to cause him to busy himself very 
extensively in negotiating for cargoes of 
rum and wheat for his speculative and 
thrifty cousin in far-off Guernsey. 

One of the first acts of the second Con- 
tinental Congress, which met in Philadelphia 
May 10, 1775, was to authorize the issue 
of a sum not exceeding two millions of 
Spanish milled dollars in bills of credit 
[134] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

" for the defence of America." John 
Adams and Benjamin Frankhn were mem- 
bers of the committee appointed to super- 
intend the printing, and they gave the job 
to Paul Revere, who engraved the plate 
and printed the bills on such thick paper 
that the British called it the " paste-board 
currency of the rebels." On the 8th of the 
following December the Massachusetts Pro- 
vincial Congress entered into a contract on 
its own account with Revere/ who agreed 
as follows: 

"Watertown Dec°^ 8, 1775. 

" I, the Subscriber agree to Engrave the 
Plates & make the necessary alterations in 
the same, and Print the number of Bills 
the Hon^^® House of Representatives shall 
order, for the sum of one penny half 
penny, old Tenor, each Bill, and finde the 
Paper, and all the materials, the paper to 
be equal to the last Emmission. As the 
alteration & engraving will not be quite so 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 138, p. 271. 
[135] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

much work as the last, I agree to alow 
thirty shillings L. Money, out of the whole. 

" Paul Revere. 

" Memorandum. 

" The Paper for the last cost me Six dol- 
lars a Rheam, when I did not expect to give 
but four, which made 44 dollars odds, the 
Committee of the House ordered the paper 
to be made, & did not agree for the price, 
& I was obliged to pay the paper maker his 
demand." 

May 3, 1775, a committee of the Pro- 
vincial Congress sitting at Watertown was 
authorized to procure a copper-plate for 
printing securities amounting to £100,000, 
issued at six per cent, for war purposes, 
payable June 1, 1777.^ A contract was 
made with Revere to prepare the notes, and 
he engraved the plate, built a press, and 
did the printing. The scarcity of ready 
money in those troublous times is seen in 
the vote passed on the 3d of June, direct- 

^ Journal of the Second Provincial Congress, p. 185. 
[136] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

ing Revere to " attend the business of 
stamping the notes for the soldiers, all the 
ensuing night, if he can, and to finish them 
with the greatest despatch possible." ^ The 
importance of taking precautions against 
theft and counterfeiting was duly impressed 
upon the engraver by a committee appointed 
June 21 to wait upon Revere and ad- 
vise " that he does not leave his engraving 
press exposed, when he is absent from it." 
The committee was likewise instructed to 
see that the plates were placed in posses- 
sion of Congress as soon as the notes were 
printed. 

For this work Revere rendered a bill 
amounting to £24 for engraving and £48 
6^. 8^. for the printing of 14,500 impres- 
sions, — a total of £72 Qs, 8d.^ The com- 
mittee appointed to audit this account 
thought it too large, and reported "that 
there be paid Oute of the Publick Trea^ 
to M^ Paul Revere in Colony Notes Sixty- 

^ Journal of the Third Provincial Congress, p. 296. 
^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 157, p. 477. 
[137] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Eight pound Six Shilling and Eight pence 
in full." ^ But a reduction of only £4< in 
the charge made by the thrifty engraver 
was thought by the Congress to leave the 
bill exorbitant for the services rendered in 
view of the condition of the treasury. The 
report was therefore rejected and a vote 
passed allowing Revere £50 in full for the 
engraving and printing.^ Arrangements 
for the printing of subsequent issues of 
colony notes were made with him at the 
rate of six shillings per one hundred sheets, 
" provided said Revere find ink and house 
room^ and procure suitable paper, the 
colony paying only the prime cost of said 
paper." 

At this period Revere busied himself also 
in making designs for coins, medals, etc., 
and probably in designing the frames, or- 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 157, p. 481. 

^ Journal of the Third Provincial Congress, p. 441. 

® Twelve shillings had been paid out of the treasury 
for the rental of John Cook's house at Watertown where 
Revere had printed the £100^000 issue. 
[138] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

nate but full of character, which surround 
many of Copley's famous portraits and have 
been preserved to this day.^ He made the 
seal with the familiar Indian figure upon 
it which the colony began using in 1775 and 
was in use until 1780. One of the first acts 
of the governor's council after the adoption 
of the new State constitution was to provide 
for an official seal, and Revere was of course 
given the work of engraving it. He esti- 
mated it as being worth £900 and sent in 
his bill accordingly; but it met the usual 
fate of Revere's charges when dealing with 
the government, for the Council, esteeming 
it too high, reduced it to £600 " or £8 hard 
money, equal to £15 New Emission." ^ 

The rebellious spirit among the colonists 
was, as is now perhaps more generally ap- 
preciated than formerly, by no means unani- 
mous, nor anywhere near so. Many of the 
leading citizens viewed the extremes to which 

^ Augustus T. Perkins, Memoir of J. S. Copley, pp. 
17,87. 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 177, p. 332. 
[139] 



The True Story of Paul Severe 

Sam Adams and the " Sons of Liberty " 
were going with very dubious forebodings. 
By this class Adams and his fellows were 
regarded as political agitators and dema- 
gogues of a dangerous type. It is not 
strange, therefore, that in their loyalty to 
the King there should be persons among the 
Tories who should deem it but true patriot- 
ism toward the mother country to report 
to the authorities the deeds and sayings of 
the plotters against the King's peace. One 
such. Dr. Benjamin Church, was so bold in 
his jiublic alliances with the fomenters of 
rebellion that he for a long time escaped 
detection. He was a well-known character, 
being, in 1774, a member of the Provincial 
Congress from Boston, and also physician- 
general to the army then forming. Essay- 
ing an active interest in the plans for re- 
sisting British aggression, he became a 
member of the " Sons of Liberty," and was 
in the habit of attending the caucuses at the 
Green Dragon Tavern. 

In his letter to Jeremy Belknap, secretary 
[140] 



The Citizen and Soldier 



of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in 
1798/ Revere thus describes the strange con- 
duct of Dr. Church, which, with other cir- 
cumstances, served at length to fix suspicion 
upon him: 

"We held our meetings at the Green 
Dragon Tavern. We were so careful that 
our meetings should be kept secret, that 
every time we met every person swore upon 
the Bible that they would not discover any 
of our transactions but to Messrs Hancock, 
Adams, Doctors Warren, Church, and one 
or two more. 

" About November, when things began to 
grow serious, a gentleman who had connec- 
tions with the Tory party but was a Whig 
at heart, acquainted me, that our meetings 
were discovered, and mentioned the identi- 
cal words that were spoken among us the 
night before. We did not then suspect Dr. 
Church, but supposed it must be some one 
among us. We removed to another place, 

1 Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 

16, p. 371. 

[ 141 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

which we thought was more secure ; but here 
we found that all our transactions were com- 
municated to Governor Gage. (This came 
to me through the then Secretary Flucker; 
he told it to the gentleman mentioned 
above.) It was then a common opinion, 
that there was a traitor in the Provincial 
Congress, and that Gage was possessed of 
all their secrets. . . . 

" As I have mentioned Dr. Church per- 
haps it might not be disagreeable to men- 
tion some matters of my own knowledge 
respecting him. He appeared to be a high 
Son of Liberty. He frequented all the 
places where they met, was encouraged by 
all the leaders of the Sons of Liberty, and 
it appeared he was respected by them, 
though I knew that Dr. Warren had not 
the greatest affection for him. He was 
esteemed a very capable writer, especially 
in verse, and as the Whig party needed 
every strength, they feared as well as 
courted him. Though it was known that 
some of the liberty songs which he com- 
[142] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

posed were parodized by him in favor of 
the British, yet none dared charge him with 
it. I was a constant and critical observer 
of him, and I must say that I never thought 
him a man of principle; and I doubted 
much in my own mind whether he was a 
real Whig. I knew that he kept company 
with a Captain Price, a half-pay officer, and 
that he frequently dined with him and Rob- 
inson, one of the Commissioners. I knew 
that one of his intimate acquaintances asked 
him why he was so often with Robinson and 
Price. His answer was that he kept com- 
pany with them on purpose to find out their 
plans. The day after the Battle of Lex- 
ington, I met him in Cambridge, when he 
shewed me some blood on his stocking, which 
he said spirted from a man who was killed 
near him, and he was urging the militia on. 
I well remember, that I argued to myself, 
if a man will risk his life in a cause, he 
must be a friend to that cause ; and I never 
suspected him after, till he was charged with 
being a traitor. . . . 

[143] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

" The Friday evening after, about sunset, 
I was sitting with some, or near all that 
committee, [the Committee of Safety] in 
their room, which was at Dr. Hastings' 
house in Cambridge. Dr. Church all at 
once, started up — Dr. Warren, said he, I 
am determined to go into Boston tomor- 
row (it set them all a-staring). Dr. War- 
ren replied. Are you serious. Dr. Church? 
they will hang you if they catch you in 
Boston. He replied, I am serious, and am 
determined to go at all adventures. After 
a considerable conversation. Dr. Warren 
said. If you are determined, let us make 
some business for you. They agreed that 
he should go to get medicine for their and 
our wounded officers. He went next morn- 
ing; and I think he came back on Sunday 
evening. After he had told the committee 
how things were, I took him aside and in- 
quired particularly how they treated him. 
He said, that as soon as he got to their 
lines, on Boston Neck, they made him a 
prisoner, and carried him to General Gage, 
[144] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

where he was examined, and then he was 
sent to Gould's barracks, and was not suf- 
fered to go home but once. 

"After he was taken up, for holding a 
correspondence with the British, I came 
across Deacon Caleb Davis; — we entered 
into conversation about him ; — he told me, 
that the morning Church went into Boston, 
he (Davis) received a billet for General 
Gage — (he then did not know that Church 
was in town) — when he got to the gen- 
eral's house, he was told, the General could 
not be spoke with, that he was in private 
with a gentleman; that he waited near half 
an hour, when General Gage and Dr. 
Church came out of a room, discoursing 
together, like persons who had been long 
acquainted. He appeared to be quite sur- 
prised at seeing Deacon Davis there; that 
he (Church) went where he pleased, while 
in Boston, only a Major Caine, one of 
Gage's aids, went with him. I was told 
by another person, whom I could depend 
upon, that he saw Church go into General 
10 [ 145 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

Gage's house at the above time; that he 
got out of the chaise and went up the steps 
more Hke a man that was acquainted than 
a prisoner. 

" Some time after, perhaps a year or two, 
I fell in company with a gentleman^ who 
studied with Church; in discoursing about 
him, I related what I have mentioned above ; 
he said, he did not doubt that he was in the 
interest of the British; and that it was he 
who informed General Gage; that he knew 
for certain, that a short time before the 
Battle of Lexington (for he then lived with 
him, and took care of his business and his 
books), he had no money by him, and was 
much drove for money; that all at once, he 
had several hundred new British guineas; 
and that he thought at the time where they 
came from." 

When Boston was evacuated by the Brit- 
ish in March, 1776, the province, through 

^ " Dr. Savage now of Barnstable " was erased and 
" gentleman " written in the original manuscript. 
[ 146 ] 




o 



The Citizen and Soldier 

the General Court, immediately proceeded 
to raise companies of militia to assist in the 
defence of the town. The ten companies 
in the artillery regiment were styled the 
" Massachusetts State's Train." Revere, 
after serving for a month as a major of 
infantry, was transferred April 10 to the 
artillery, being promoted November 27 to 
be lieutenant-colonel. His son, Paul, Jr., 
a lad of scarce sixteen, was given a lieuten- 
ant's commission in one of the companies. 

Revere entered this service with some dis- 
appointment. He would have preferred a 
commission in the continental army, where 
he might have found a wider field of activ- 
ity; and in a letter dated April 5, 1777/ he 
complained to his friend. Colonel Lamb: 
" I have never been taken notice off, by 
those whom I thought my friends, am 
obliged to be contented in this State's ser- 
vice." In this letter he also remarks: 
"Friend Sears is here — a very merchant; 
in short I find but few of the Sons of 

^ Goss (Vol. 1, p. 280) gives the letter in full. 
[147] 



The True Story of Paul Severe 

Liberty in the army," from which it would 
appear that some of the patriots who were 
great agitators and plotters before the 
Revolution were careful to keep away from 
the firing line when actual hostilities broke 
out. 

The artillery " train " was stationed at 
Fort William, on an island in Boston har- 
bor.^ Here Revere, notwithstanding his 
impatience at this circumscribing of his 
ambitions, faithfully f)erf ormed the services 
that came to him in the line of duty, being 
a part of the time in full command. 

On August 27, 1777, Revere was placed 
in command of a large body of troops as- 
signed to proceed to Worcester to take into 
custody the British prisoners captured at 
the battle of Bennington by General Stark. 
The following day, before starting upon the 

^ The orderly book of this " train " has been pre- 
served. It begins with the second year of the service 
and extends from June, 1777, to December, 1778. It 
is chiefly a record of the orders of General Heath, 
Colonel Thomas Crafts and Lieutenant-Colonel Paul 
Revere. 

[ 148 ] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

journey, the regiment was ordered to march 
.to the meeting-house, " dressed in their uni- 
form. Clean & Powder'd," to hsten to a 
sermon by the Rev. Mr. Thacher. After 
receiving this spiritual nourishment, the 
troops started for " the heart of the com- 
monwealth." They got no further than 
Watertown when the commander found it 
necessary to issue this suggestive order : * 

"Watertown, Aug* 29*^ 1777 

" A Strict Discipline, and Good Order is 
the life & Soul of a Soldier, the Lieu* 
Colonel expects that there will be the best 
Order observed on the March, the Com- 
missioned Officers are to see that the men 
behave well, that they by no Means hurt 
or destroy any man's property, that they 
Abuse no person, but in everything behave 
like men Belonging to the Massachusetts 
State Train of Artillery. When there is 
a halt the Serg*^ are to be Accountable for 
the behaviour of the Men. Should any of 

* Goss, Vol. 1, p. 288. 
[149] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

the Non Commis'd Officers or Soldiers be 
so hardy as to act Contrary to the above 
directions they may depend upon being 
punished with the utmost Severity. 

"By Order COL« REVERE." 

It is not difficult to imagine that the sol- 
diers accustomed to a tedious confinement 
in the fortifications at Castle William on 
an island were very willing to be ordered 
on this junketing trip out into the coun- 
try, and left Boston determined to enjoy it 
without a too fine regard for the rights 
and peace of mind of the farmers along 
the route. The regiment, after a three- 
hours' march, reached Watertown at 9 P. m. 
and encamped for the night. The march 
was resumed at six the next morning. 
Revere, in a diary which he kept during 
the expedition, thus chronicled the episodes 
of the last day's march: 

"Left Watertown 6 ^Clock a.m. 29*^ 
Breakfasted Westown. Waited two hours 
for waggon to come up the Horses not 
[150] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

being sufBcient hired a horse to Sudbury, 
dined there, recevd a letter from M^^ 
Jones West town, complaining her Store 
was broke open 12 loafs of Sugar stole. 
She suspects our People. I have all their 
Packs searched, find nothing. Suspect they 
stole the Sugar themselves, out of pretence 
charge our people, the sugar belonging to 
the United [States] and they Tories. While 
at Jones' Cap* Todd's Serv* pocket picked, 
two dollars taken out of pocket Book wile 
hanging in the kitchen. At 8 °Clock ar- 
rived at Marlborough & there Lodged, 
nothing unusual happened. 30*^^ Marched 
at 6 ^Clock A. M. Break^ Northborough. 
Dined at Shrewsbury arrived at Worcester 
5 °Clock p. M. Quartered the men in the 
Town house." 

The British prisoners from Benning- 
ton, several hundred in number, — High- 
landers, Germans, Canadians, etc., — were 
duly taken into custody and marched to 
Boston. 

[151] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

The monotony of life at the fort was 
varied by other incidents, such as a court- 
martial, of which Revere was president, on 
September 6. Thomas Cleverly and Caleb 
Southard were charged with the heinous 
offence of playing cards on the Sabbath 
day, and found guilty, sentence being 
passed upon them as follows: " The Court 
are of the Ojipinion that Cleverly ride the 
Wooden Horse for a Quarter of an hour 
with a Muskett at each foot & that South- 
ward Clean the Streets of the Camp. Paul 
Revere, Presid." Cleverly was also subse- 
quently found " guilty of a Breach of the 
16^^^ article of war [stealing], and do sen- 
tence him to be Whip'd ten lashes on his 
naked back with a Cat O Nine tails." 
John Go win, tried for " Stealing and being 
Drunk, Deserting a file of Men & Abusing 
Serg* Griffith " at the same time as South- 
ard and Cleverly, was acquitted for lack of 
evidence.^ 

In September the regiment was ordered 

1 Goss, Vol. 1, pp. 290, 291. 
[ 152 ] 



The Citizen and Soldier 



to Rhode Island; but after participating in 
the short campaign there, returned to Bos- 
ton, and spent the winter at Castle William. 
In March the officers sent a " round-robin," 
written by Revere, to the authorities, the 
demands set forth therein being promptly 
complied with/ This was the complaint: 
" To the Hon^i^ the Council & House of 
Representatives of the State of Mas- 
sachusetts Baye. 

" We the Subscribers Officers in the State 
Regiment of Artillery commanded by Colo: 
Thomas Crafts 

"Beg leave to represent to your Honors 
That by reason of the excessive high price 
of every Article of Clothing we are not able 
to maintain ourselves and appear like Offi- 
cers in this State service. 

" We therefore pray — That your Honors 
would grant us the same Indulgence the 
Continental Officers have viz: of Drawing 
a few Necessarys out of the State Stores 
— paying the same prices as they do. — 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 218, p. 410. 
[153] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

" We stand in need of the following 
Articles. As much Blue Cloth as will 
make a Coat with trimmings for the same 
White Woolen or Linnen cloth for Waist- 
coat & Breeches, Two pair of Stockings, 
Linnen for Two Shirts, Two pair of Shoes, 
and as much Ticking or other strong Check 
as will make a [the paper at this place is 
torn].^ 

" And your petitioners as in duty bo 
[torn] "PAUL REVERE 

THOMAS MELVILLE 
Honbie>j ^jLLj^j^ TODD 
Councel for ^j^^jjj^Qp Q^^y 



Massachusetts 
State 



TURNER PHILLIPS 
PH [torn] 

[torn] GILL 

''Boston March 30 1778" 

The Council and House of Representa- 
tives granted the petition and the Board of 

^ The words torn out were " mattress and pillow/' 
as appears in the order of the council directing that 
Revere's request be compHed with. 
[154] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

War was directed to deliver the materials 
accordingly. The Massachusetts Archives 
contain numerous orders for the delivery 
of supplies to the Castle, in which Revere's 
name appears. 

Colonel Revere and his son accompanied 
the expedition ordered to Rhode Island in 
July, 1778, to reinforce General Sullivan. 
The month of August was passed there in 
what proved to be an unimportant and in- 
effective campaign, and the Massachusetts 
troops were back in their old quarters by 
the 9th of September. We get a glimpse 
of the affectionate relationship of Revere 
and his wife in a letter which has come 
down to us, written during this absence : ^ 

"MY DEAR GIRL,— 

" Your very agreeable letter came safe to 
hand, since which I have wrote, but received 
no answer. I believe you are better: what 
a pleasure to hear ! Pray take care of your- 

^ Massachusetts Historcal Society Proceedings, Vol. 
13 (1873-1875), pp. 251, 252. 
[155] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

self & my little ones. I hoped ere this to 
have been in Newport; my next I hope 
will be dated there. We have had the most 
severe N. East Storm I ever knew, but, 
thank Heaven, after 48 hours it is over. I 
am in high health and Spirits, & [so is] our 
Army. The Enemy dare not show their 
heads. We have had about 50 who have 
deserted to us; Hessians & others. They 
say many more will desert, & only wait for 
opportunity. I am told by the inhabitants 
that before we came on, they burned 6 of 
their Frigates; they have destroyed many 
houses between them & us. I hope we shall 
make them pay for all. The French fleet 
are not returned, but I just heard they were 
off Point Judith with 3 frigates, prizes; 
this, I am told, comes from Head Quarters. 
I do not assert it for fact, but hope it is 
true. You have heard this Island is the 
Garden of America, indeed it used to be so ; 
but those British Savages have so abused & 
destroyed the Trees (the greatest part of 
which was Fruit Trees), that it does not 
[156] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

look like the same Island; some of the In- 
habitants who left it hardly know where to 
find their homes. Col. Crafts is obliged to 
act under Col. Crane, which is a severe Mor- 
tification to him. I have but little to do 
with him, having a separate command. It 
is very irksome to be separated from her 
whom I so tenderly love, and from my little 
Lambs; but were I at home I should want 
to be here. It seems as if half Boston was 
here. I hope the affair will soon be settled; 
I think it will not be long first. I trust 
that AUwise being who has protected me 
will still protect me, and send me safely to 
the Arms of her whom it is my greatest 
happiness to call my own. Paul is well; 
send Duty & love to all. I am surprised 
Capt. Marett has not rote me. My duty to 
my Aunts, my love to Brothers & Sisters, 
my most affectionate love to my children. 
It would be a pleasure to have a line from 
Deby. Lawson desires to be remembered 
to you. My best regards to Mrs. Bennet, 
Mr. Burt, Capt. Pulling & all enquiring 
[157] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

Friends. Col. Mareschall, who is one [of] ] 

Gen^ Sullivans Adj Camps, tells me this 
minute that the French have took a Trans- 
port with British Grenadiers, but could not 
tell the particulars. ! 

" Your Own, \ 

"PAUL REVERE." j 

September 1 an order was issued by the ' 
Council directing Lieutenant Colonel Re- 
vere to be placed in full command at Fort ; 
WiUiam.' The winter of 1778-1779 was 
spent at the " castle " without excitement j 
or incident of note. The regiment under \ 
Revere formed a defensive force that was \ 
expected to prove effective in the event of 
attack by the enemy, and in this capacity , 
it rendered patriotic and necessary, if mo- ; 
notonous and unpicturesque, service. But 
though there were none of the sufferings 
incident to a campaign of battle and siege, ; 
there were other hardships. Some of these \ 
Revere set forth in a letter to the Council : ^ i 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 174, p. 410 J. j 

2 Ibid., Vol. 175, p. 188. { 

[158] 



The Citizen and Soldier 



"Castle Island, March 17, 1779. 

" To the Honorable Council, 

" Gentlemen, — I mentioned to your 
Honors a few days since, some difficulties 
which I laboured under, by reason the men 
had not their necessarys from the Comm^ 
General (granted them by the Hon^^^ 
Court) The commotions which have been 
in the Reg* with their Real, and imaginary 
grievances have greatly increased those Dif- 
ficulties; as your Honors will see by the 
inclosed, which was sent to my Quarters 
the last evening. 
" It is my Duty as their Officer to lay be- 
fore your Honors a true State of their case. 
"At the time they Inhsted, they were 
promised by their Officers they should re- 
ceive Yearly, a Coat Waist-Coat, one p^ 
Breeches, one Hatt, two Shirts, two p^ 
Stockings, two p^ Shoes and one Blanket, 
the same as the Continental Soldiers. — 
They have not received but one Shirt, one 
p^ Stockings, one p^ Shoes, and one Blanket 
the first Year. — most of their Blanketts 
[159] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

are worn out; some lost their Blanketts on 
the retreat from Rhode-Island, many have 
been without all Winter. — They have re- 
ceived no pay for the month of August, 
when on Rhode Island; some of them have 
five months pay due, and all of them three: 
many have no shoes, and but one Shirt, & 
it is three months, since they drew any neces- 
sarys from the Commissary General. 

" I shall be exceeding glad if Your 
Honors will take the above into your wise 
consideration, and point out some way, by 
which these Mens minds may be Eased. 
Many of them have families which are 
Starving; they have not the advantage of 
Continental Soldiers ; the Town they belong 
to will not supply their Familys. I beg 
leave to projDose to your Honors, that the 
Supernumerary Non- Commission Officers, 
Drums, and Fifes, may be dismissed, as 
there is nearly Forty of them, and their 
pay and Rations come to near £1000 p^ 
month, and the Bread they draw will be 
wanted. And that the three Companys may 
[160] 



The Citizen and Soldier 



be Organized, as I find it extreamly dificult 
to take care of them as they now are. 

" I must renew my desire that the Officers 
who remain, may make out the Pay Rolls; 
as some of the Officers are gone, and others 
agoing away; and some have refused to 
take the trouble of paying them. 
" Your Hum^^^ Servant 

" Paul Revere, Lieut Col. 

" N. B. Mr. Devens the Commisy Gen- 
eral told me yesterday he could make out 
to supply one month's necessarys if the 
Council desired him." 

The Council appointed a committee to 
take Revere's requests under consideration 
and they were subsequently complied with. 

During all this period of service at Fort 
Wilham, Colonel Revere continued active in 
the affairs of the town and the counsels of 
the Revolutionary leaders. The General 
Court on the 13th of February, 1776, had 
authorized the estabhshment of a Committee 
of Correspondence to be chosen in town 
11 [ 161 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

meetings of the several towns, and twelve 
days after the evacuation of Boston by the 
British, that is, on March 29, the citizens met 
in the Old Brick Meeting-House for the 
purpose of carrying out the resolution. A 
committee of twenty-six was chosen, Paul 
Revere being of the number. Among his 
colleagues were John Hancock, Sam Adams, 
Nathaniel Appleton, Oliver Wendell. At 
this meeting of the " Freeholders and other 
Inhabitants of the Town of Boston " it was 
voted that " Thomas Crafts, Esq., Col. 
Thomas Marshall, Major Paul Reviere be 
a Comittee to wait on General Washing- 
ton, & to acquaint him that it is the De- 
sire of the Town, that the Four Pieces of 
Cannon which are in the Continental Train 
of Artillery, & belonging to the Town of 
Boston, may not be carried out of this 
Colony, if his Excellency should apprehend 
the general Interest of the Colony will per- 
mit their remaining here." ^ 

^ Boston Record Commissioners' Reports, Vol. 18, 
p. 228. 

[162] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

On May 7 ^ the Committee of Corre- 
spondence 

" Voted, that Cap* WilHam Mackey, Cap* 
John PuUing, M^ WiUiam Powell, Maj'' 
Paul Revere, M^ Thomas Hitchburne, Caleb 
Davis Esq., Cap* Isaac Phillips be and 
hereby are appointed a Sub-Committee to 
Collect the names of all Persons who have 
in any manner acted against or opposed the 
Rights and Liberties of this Country or who 
have signed or voted any address to General 
Gage approving his errand to this Colony, 
or his Administration since the dissolution 
of the General Court at Salem in 1774 — 
or to Governor Hutchinson after the ar- 
rival of General Gage or to General How, 
or who have signed or promoted any Associ- 
ation for Joining or assisting the Enemies 
of this Continent; and of such as have fled 
from this Colony to or with the British 
Army Fleet or elsewhere together with 

^ Record of the Boston Committee of Correspond- 
ence, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 
Vol. 30, pp. 382, 383. 

[163] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

their respective Crimes and Evidences or 
Depositions, which may be procured to 
prove the same agreeable tc a Resolve of 
the General Court of this ^Colony bearing 
date April 19, 1776." ' 

At a session of the Committee of Corre- 
spondence in the Council chamber July 21 
it was 

" Voted, that Major Reveire, Maj^ Bar- 
ber, Cap^ Proctor, Cap* Pulling, M^ Boyer 
& M^ Mourton be a Committee to prepare 

^ The committee to ferret out the Tories reported 
and on May 17 the freeholders of the town voted that 
" the following List of such Persons belonging to this 
Town, as have been endeavouring since the 19th of 
April 1775 to counteract the united struggles of this & 
the neighboring States, in the Opinion of a Majority of 
this Meeting is the List which the Town Clerk is to 
deliver to two or more Justices of the Peace for this 
County — Quorum Unus — agreeable to a late Act of 
the General Assembly — Viz* Ebenezer Norwood, 
Mather Byles, D. D., Benjamin Phillips, Dr. James 
Lloyd, Daniel Hubbard, Dr. Isaac Rand, junr. John 
Tufts, Edward Wentworth, William Peny, Dr. Samuel 
Danforth, George Lush, Edward Hutchinson, Thomas 
Edwards, Hopestill Capen, Patrick Wall, Benjamin 
[164] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

a List of suitable Persons to be draughted, 
in ease of any failure in the Inlistment of 
the same to be reported to this Committee." ^ 

When one realizes the active and sys- 
tematic preparations for hostilities which 
were being made long before the clash of 
arms at Lexington, the evidence that rebel- 
lion against the mother country was delib- 
erately plotted, and was only awaiting open 
provocation in order to break forth, is well- 
nigh conclusive. Thus we find a committee 
of the Provincial Congress, which had been 
appointed to inquire into the condition of 
manufactures in Massachusetts, reporting, 
December 8, 1774, " that gunpowder is also 
an article of such importance, that every 

Davis, Benja. Davis junr., David Parker, James Perkins, 
Nathaniel Gary, Richard Green, William Jackson, 
Samuel Broadstreet, Thomas Amory, Charles White- 
worth, Dr. Thomas Kast, John Erving Esq., George 
Bethune, Dr. Miles Whitworth." — Boston Record 
Commissioners' Reports, Vol. 18, p. 281. 

^ Record of the Boston Committee of Correspond- 
ence, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 
Vol. 31, p. 32. 

[165] 



The True Story of Paul Severe 

man among us who loves his country, must 
wish the estabhshment of manufactories for 
that purpose; and as there are the ruins of 
several powder mills, and sundry persons 
among us who are acquainted with that 
business, we do heartily recommend its en- 
couragement by repairing one or more of 
said mills, or erecting others, and renewing 
said business as soon as possible." ^ 

But the " sundry persons " acquainted 
with the gunpowder business do not appear 
to have responded very generously to this 
suggestion that their services would be in 
demand, and the Provincial Congress ac- 
cordingly was moved to commission a capa- 
ble man to go to Philadelphia, where the 
only powder mill known to be in actual 
operation was located. For this mission 
Paul Revere was selected, and the com- 
mittee on powder mills of the Congress in- 
structed him ^ as follows : 

^ Journal, First Provincial Congress, p. 64. 
2 Revere family papers. Goss, Vol. 2, p. 400. 

[166] 



The Citizen and Soldier 



"Watertown, Nov'" lO^ii 1775 

" M^ PAUL REVERE 

" As you are bound to Philadelphia, where 
powder mills are Erected, and the manufac- 
turing powder Carried on with Considerable 
dispatch, and advantage, you are desired to 
make the following Enquiries, and possess 
yourself as far as you Can of the Knowledge 
of making powder. Viz: Obtain an Exact 
plan of the best Constructed powder mill, 
the Quantity of powder that may be made 
in One day in said mill, the Expence of the 
powder mill, & Whether a person Can be 
Obtained, who is well skilled in manufac- 
turing powder, and the Expense of said 
man p^ ann^ 

"You are also desired to apply to the 
Hon^ John Hancock Esq^ and the Other 
members of the Continental Congress be- 
long's to this Colony who are desired to 
assist you in these Enquiries. 

" By Order of the Comm"® appointed to 
Enquire into & report the best and most 
[167 1 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

Expeditious methods of Erecting powder 
mills, and manuft^ powder in the Colony. 

"A: ORNE 

" p^ order." 

Revere made the journey to Philadelphia 
in ten days. He, no doubt, called at once 
on John Hancock, who was in attendance 
on the Continental Congress, and commu- 
nicated his mission, obtaining a letter of 
introduction from Robert Morris to the pro- 
prietor of the powder mill, a Mr. Oswell 
Eve:' 

" Philad^ NoV^ 2ist 1775 

" Mr. OSWELL EVE 
" SIR 

" I am requested by some honorable 
Members of the Congress to recommend 
the bearer hereof Mr. Paul Revere to you. 
He is just arrived from New England 
where it is discovered they can Manufacture 
a good deal of Salt Petre in consequence 
of which they desire to erect a Powder Mill 
& Mr. Revere has been pitched upon to gain 

^ Revere family papers. Goss, Vol. 2, p. 402. 
[168] 



The Citizen and Soldier 



instruction & knowledge in this branch. A 
Powder Mill, in New England cannot in 
the least degree affect your manufacture 
nor be of any disadvantage to you, there- 
fore these Gentl"^ and Myself hope you will 
cheerfully & from Public Spirited motives 
give Mr. Revere such information as will 
enable him to construct the business on his 
return home. I shall be glad of any oppor- 
tunity to approve Myself 
"Sir 

" Your very obed Servt 

" Robert Morris. 

" P. S. Mr. Revere will desire to see the 
Construction of your mill & I hope you will 
gratify him on that point." 

The note was endorsed by John Dickin- 
son, but its appeal, as it proved, was not 
made to a man of generous heart and in- 
stincts; for Mr. Oswell Eve was a fair 
type of the thrifty patriot who is to be 
found in every great crisis when the coun- 
try's welfare, or even its life, is at stake, 
[ 169 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

and who does not scruple to coin her dis- 
tress into personal gain. In this case 
neither the character of Revere's mission, 
upon which he had travelled hundreds of 
miles at the instance of the Massachusetts 
Congress, nor the pleas of Morris and 
Dickinson, could induce Eve to part with 
the secrets of gunpowder-making. He 
had, he thought, a monopoly of what in 
modern commercial terminology would have 
been regarded as " a good thing," and he 
proposed to keep it so that the war man- 
agers would be obliged to pay him his own 
price. So he flatly refused to give Revere 
the desired facilities for acquiring infor- 
mation relative to the manufacture of pow- 
der. Fortunately, however, he softened to 
the extent of condescending to permit his 
visitor to pass through his establishment, 
not reckoning upon retributive justice de- 
feating the ends of private greed. 

For Revere was no ordinary sight-seer. 
If not allowed to ask questions and receive 
informing answers he kept his eyes wide 
[170] 



The Citizen and Soldier 

open, and filled a mental note-book with 
the results of his observations. This he 
was able to do intelligently, for he had 
a good practical knowledge of chemistry, 
gained from reading and experience, as 
well as a familiarity with mechanics. So, 
when he reached home, he was ready to put 
his skill at even the dangerous business of 
powder-making to the test. The General 
Court at once ordered the rebuilding of an 
abandoned powder mill at Canton. Work 
was begun upon it in February, 1776, and 
it was completed in May, Revere taking 
charge and succeeding so well in mastering 
the details of the manufacture that he was 
soon able to supply tons of powder for the 
Continental army. Forty barrels, contain- 
ing one hundred pounds each, were supplied 
in October, 1777, to the fort in Boston har- 
bor, at which Revere was then the command- 
ing officer.^ 

^ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 
Vol. 31, pp. 272-276, article by D. T. V. Huntoon on 
" The Powder Mill at Canton." 
[171] 



The True Story of Paul Severe 

In December of the following year, while 
still in command of the fort, we find Revere 
praying for permission to have eight hun- 
dredweight of " gunpowder dust " made 
into powder, apparently for his own per- 
sonal use, though to what purpose he in- 
tended it is something of a mystery. The 
fact that he offered to pay " a reasonable 
consideration " for this service in case the 
Council would " grant leave to Thomas 
Crane, Esq., Keeper of Said mill to make 
the above dust into Powder " ^ would seem 
to indicate that it was not intended for the 
use of the army. 

In 1777 Revere was temporarily detached 
from the fort to make a trip to Titicut, 
where brass and iron cannon were being 
cast at a " state furnace," there to superin- 
tend the " proveing " of the cannon and 
hasten the transportation to Boston of all 
that were shown to be effective.^ 

^ Massachusetts Archives^ Vol. 174, p. 608. 

^ The Council's orders to Revere on this occasion, as 
found in the family papers, are given in full by Goss, 
Vol. 2, pp. 405-407. 

[172] 



V — THE PENOBSCOT SCANDAL 

AND COURT-MARTIAL OF 

REVERE 



1778-1782 



BRITISH commerce suffered greatly 
I during the Revolution from the 
depredations of Yankee privateers 
which, in considerable numbers, were fitted 
out in Boston, Salem, Newburyport, and 
Marblehead, and which when pursued, or 
after having taken a prize, found conven- 
ient and safe asylums in the rock-bound 
harbors of the Maine coast; in these shel- 
ters they could also secure equipments of 
crews and provisions, and from them they 
could dart out quickly upon unsuspecting 
prey. So destructive had these tactics be- 
come in 1779, that the British decided to 
take steps to meet them. Accordingly, in 
June of that year. General Francis McLean, 
with four hundred and fifty of the rank 
hundred of the 82d, took possession of the 
[173] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

peninsula of Bagaduce (now Castine), on 
the east side of Penobscot Bay/ Here, 
upon a bluff two hundred or more feet 
above the water, about twenty miles from 
the mouth of the bay and six below the 
mouth of the river, McLean began the 
erection of a fort, which he proposed to 
christen, after the King, Fort George. 

The news of the occupation of Bagaduce 
by the British created a great stir through- 
out the eastern colonies, and the General 
Court of Massachusetts at once issued or- 
ders to fit out an expedition to dispossess 
the enemy .^ The co-operation of the New 

^ Letter from McLean in The Gentleman's Magazine^ 
Vol. 49, p. 513. Winsor, in his Narrative and Critical 
History (Vol. 6, p. 603), gives McNeill as the name of 
this British general. Cf. The Siege of the Penobscot hy 
the Rebels ; containing a Journal of the Proceedings of His 
Majesty's Forces detached from the 7Ifth and 82d Regi- 
ments, consisting of about 700 Rank and File, under the 
Command of Brigadier- General Francis McLean, etc. By 
J. C. [John Calef], London, 1781. 

^ Sketch of General Solomon Lovell ; Gilbert Nash, 
in publications of Weymouth Historical Society, Vol. 1, 
p. 55. 

[174] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

Hampshire authorities was beseeched and 
the appeal met with a ready response.^ 

Brigadier-General Solomon Lovell was 
ordered to take command of twelve hun- 
dred militia, with Adjutant- General Peleg 
Wadsworth second in command, and Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Paul Revere in command of 
the artillery train.^ The board of war was 
directed to secure from the Continental 
authorities a loan of the frigate Warren, 
a fine new ship of thirty-two guns, and the 
sloop Providence, with twelve guns. Ex- 
traordinary inducements were offered sea- 
men to enlist, and arrangements were made 
to hire or impress private armed ships.^ The 
ordnance, commissary, and quartermaster's 
departments were ordered to furnish sup- 
phes for the expedition; but it was one 
thing to vote supplies and quite a different 
matter to raise them. Hence we find Gen- 

1 Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 57, pp. 298-300 ; also. 
Vol. 145, pp. 86, 412. 

2 Council Records, Vol. 23, p. 444. 

* Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, p. 391 ; also 
Revolutionary Rolls, Vol. 44, pp. 359-401. 
[ n5 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

eral Lovell writing to the Council July 2, 
complaining of the delay/ 

But at length the expedition was ready 
to set sail. The fleet had been placed 
in charge of Commodore Dudley Salton- 
stall, then in command of the borrowed 
Warren, It consisted of nineteen vessels, 
mounting in all three hundred and twenty- 
four guns and manned by over two thou- 
sand sailors, besides twenty transports. It 
was probably, taken altogether, the strong- 
est and finest naval force furnished by 
New England during the Revolution, and 
entailed a total cost of £1,739,174 11^. ^d? 

Fifteen hundred troops were expected to 
join the main contingent, from York, Cum- 
berland, and Lincoln in Maine; but of this 
quota only five hundred put in an appear- 
ance, and a large portion of these were 
wholly unfit for service, consisting chiefly 
of small boys, old men, and even invalids. 

^ Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls, Vol. 37, pp. 
258-260. 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, p. 201. 

[176] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 



Their equipment was of the most indiffer- 
ent character, their arms being out of re- 
pair, and they lacked ammunition. 

On the 24th of July the fleet arrived at 
the mouth of the Penobscot. Due warning 
of its approach had been given the British, 
who, in spite of the fact that they had 
hastened in the work of constructing their 
fortifications, were greatly disheartened, 
realizing that the American force was much 
stronger, and ought to be able to quickly 
overcome the feeble resistance which was 
all, under the circumstances, they believed 
they could ofl'er. No cannon had yet been 
placed in the main fort. All but four of 
the British fleet had returned to Halifax. 
One account states that "the walls of the 
fort at that time were not more than five 
feet high, with two guns mounted, one 
towards the water and the other towards 
the woods, with only enough to man three 
sides of the fort, placing the men a yard 
apart." ^ Without doubt the British had 

1 Nash's Sketch of Lovell, p. 54. 
12 [ 177 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

kept fully informed of the movements of 
the Americans, and, after a show of resist- 
ance, would have readily surrendered. 

It is not necessary nor profitable to tell 
here in detail the story of this disastrous 
expedition, so discreditable to the Ameri- 
cans, who largely outnumbered in land 
forces the British, and who had an over- 
whelming fleet. Suffice it to say that on 
the 26th of June the Yankee marines made 
a successful landing, capturing some can- 
non and ammunition, mounted a battery, 
and caused a precipitate retreat of the 
enemy, while the naval forces under Com- 
modore Saltonstall exhibited a remarkable 
indisposition to assume the offensive and 
supplement the work of the soldiers on 
land. The commodore, indeed, seemed de- 
liberately bent on keeping the fleet as far 
as possible out of danger, — a course which 
filled both the land forces and Saltonstall's 
own men with supreme disgust. A council 
of war was held on board the brig Hazard 

August 7, at which the question was dis- 
[178] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

cussed as to whether the siege should be 
continued. It was voted to continue, Re- 
vere being one of eight and Commodore 
Saltonstall another who voted in the nega- 
tive/ Revere decided to file a record of 
his reasons for this vote, and he was allowed 
to do so in connection with the official re- 
port made of the proceedings.^ He offered 
this defence of his course: 

" 1. Gen. Lovell says that he is not able 
to reduce the Enemy with what Troops and 
Stores he has got. 

" 2. That under present circumstances it 
is best to take post to the westward to hinder 
the Enemy going any further. 

" 3. That six Captains of ships give as 
their opinion that they cannot keep their 
men but a few days longer." 

Four days later another council of war 
was held, at which, as a result of that day's 
experience, it was unanimously voted that 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 57, p. 326. 
2 Ibid. Vol. 145, p. 79. 
[ 179 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

with the force then on hand it would be 
impossible to hold a post in the rear of the 
enemy's fort, and, at the same time, the 
lines as then drawn up. Three reasons 
were given for this decision: that "our Force 
is not sufficient to take Possession of the 
ground; our Numbers are not able to do 
Duty after taken for one week; the great 
want of Discipline, and Subordination." 
" Many of the Officers," it was said, " being 
so exceedingly slack and ignorant of their 
Duty, — the Soldiers averse to service — 
And the wood in which we are Incamped 
so very thick, that on an Alarm on any 
special occasion, nearly one-fourth part of 
the Army are Skulked out of the way, and 
concealed." ^ Truly a spectacle of disgrace- 
ful incompetence and temerity if not down- 
right cowardice! 

But fortunately for the reputation of 
Yankee valor and self-respect the dark 
picture has its bright spots. Not all of 
the subordinate officers were dead to shame; 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, p. 127. 
[180] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

and thirty-one of SaltonstalFs staff drew 
up a round-robin, in which, after comment- 
ing on the importance of the expedition 
and their own desire to render all the ser- 
vice in their power, they said: "We think 
Delays in the present case are extremely 
dangerous: as our Enemies are daily for- 
tifying and strengthening themselves, & are 
stimulated so to do being in daily Expec- 
tation of a Reinforcement. We don't mean 
to advise, or censure your past conduct. But 
intend only to express our desire of improv- 
ing the present opportunity to go Immedi- 
ately into the Harbour & attack the Enemy's 
ships." ^ But Saltonstall was not moved. 
He affected to concede the desirability of 
an immediate attack, but he found obsta- 
cles which he had not the courage to con- 
front and overcome, and so the sea attack 
was never made. But it was at length de- 
cided, as the result of another council of 
war on board the Warren, participated in 
by land and naval officers. Revere being of 
^ Nash's Sketch of Lovell, p. 63. 
[ 181 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

the number, that a body of troops should 
be landed on the peninsula and, if possible, 
the heights scaled, and a permanent foot- 
hold secured upon the bluffs. 

In the early morning of the 28th this 
was done, and the exploit was a brilliant 
success. No protective works had been 
erected at this point by the British, but 
some three hundred troops had been posted 
on the precipice and opened a sharp fire 
upon the Americans as soon as the latter's 
boats struck the beach. Says Nash: ^ " Not- 
withstanding the extreme difficulty of the 
ascent and the enemy's fire directly in their 
faces, the troops pushed on with the great- 
est intrepidity, although with but little order 
scaled the heights, swept the foe before 
them, and captured a position upon the 
bluff which was of the highest importance, 
since it gave them a point from which fu- 
ture operations against the fort could be 
conducted with the greatest advantage. The 
hard fighting was upon the right, the ma- 
^ Sketch of Lovell, p. 65, 
[ 182 ] 



The CourtrMartial of Revere 

rines suffering severely, while the other 
division closing in with too much precipi- 
tation, drove the enemy from the ground 
and enabled them to escape. The fight 
lasted but twenty minutes, and considering 
that the attacking force was composed of 
undisciplined militia, most of whom were 
never before in action; the ascent almost 
too difficult to be undertaken unopposed, 
made in the face of a strong party of vete- 
ran troops, it may be fairly set down as one 
of the most brilliant exploits of the war." 

General Lovell, in his Diary, says of it: 
" When I returned to the Shore it struck 
me with admiration to see what a Precipice 
we had ascended, not being able to take so 
scrutinous a view of it in time of Battle, it 
is at least where we landed three hundred 
feet high, and almost perpendicular, & the 
men were obliged to pull themselves by the 
twigs & trees. I don't think such a land- 
ing has been made since Wolfe." ^ General 

^ Weymouth Historical Society Publications, Vol. 1, 
p. 99. 

[183] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

Lovell reported the American loss at fifty- 
killed and twenty wounded, and the British 
at fifteen killed and three wounded, besides 
the loss of eight prisoners/ 

Following this exploit there were various 
engagements of no consequence on the part 
of the military, while Commodore Salton- 
stall remained practically idle and deaf to 
repeated urgings to storm the fort and de- 
stroy the few ships of the enemy, which he 
might readily have done at any time. He 
only offered excuse after excuse for his 
continued delays and inactivity. 

General Lovell, exasperated beyond fur- 
ther endurance at Saltonstall's pusillani- 
mous conduct, finally determined to resort 
to independent means of attacking the 
enemy's vessels. On the 3d of August he 
sent General Wadsworth to erect a land 
battery opposite the British anchorage, with 
which, if possible, to drive away the hostile 
ships. But the distance of the battery from 
the target was a mile and a quarter, the fire 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, p. 6l. 
[184] 



The CourirMartial of Revere 

would not carry, and the attempt had to be 
abandoned. " It is all the army can do," 
wrote General Lovell in his journal. On 
the 11th he again addressed a note to the 
commodore, saying: " I mean not to deter- 
mine on your mode of attack, but it appears 
to me so very impracticable, that any fur- 
ther delay must be infamous; and I have 
it this moment, by a deserter from one of 
their ships, that the moment you enter the 
harbor they will destroy them, which will 
effectually answer our purpose. ... I feel 
for the honor of America, in an expedition 
which a nobler exertion had, long before 
this, crowned with success; and I have now 
only to repeat the absolute necessity of un- 
dertaking the destruction of the ships or 
quitting the place." ^ 

These pleadings proved as unavailing as 
former ones. The commodore was obsti- 
nate; he was determined not to risk any 
damage to his vessels, and many of the 
captains shared in his point of view, since 

^ Nash's Sketch of Lovell, p. 72. 
[ 185 ] 



The True Story of Paul Severe 

most of the ships were private property, 
and there was, moreover, but Httle prospect 
of prize-money to offset possible losses. 
But since Commodore Saltonstall had from 
the outset insisted that the army should at- 
tack the fort before the fleet should enter 
the harbor, General Lovell made up his 
mind to assume the responsibility of mov- 
ing against the enemy, trusting to Salton- 
stall's co-operation when the crisis was 
forced. This was a hazardous undertak- 
ing, simultaneous action by the fleet being 
essential to its success. 

But Lovell had no sooner brought his 
troops to a point where he might operate 
with advantage on the fort than the com- 
modore sent word of the appearance in 
the harbor of strange vessels which, he had 
discovered, flew the British flag! Nothing 
more was necessary to transform his in- 
ertia and crass temerity into genuine cow- 
ardly panic. He immediately deserted the 
cause of the army on shore, left the troops 
at the mercy of the enemy's guns in the 
[186] 



The CourtrMartial of Bevere 

forts, and, hoisting anchor, beat a speedy 
retreat in good order and without loss. 

Saltonstall's disgraceful desertion ren- 
dered it foolhardy for the army to remain 
longer on shore, and so, dismantling the 
batteries which had been erected at such 
sacrifice and effort, the troops boarded the 
transports, and, within a dozen hours from 
the first sounding of the alarm, the whole 
expedition was on its way up the river. 
One more effort was made by General 
Lovell, even then, to induce Commodore 
Saltonstall to make at least a stand against 
the enemy, but in vain. Consternation and 
confusion prevailed thenceforth. A stiff 
breeze carried the ships of war past the 
transports, leaving the troops on the latter 
helplessly exposed to the now rapidly ad- 
vancing British vessels. 

It was inevitable that the Americans, un- 
less they took hot foot, should fall bodily 
into the enemy's hands. Accordingly " noth- 
ing was thought of," says Nash,^ " by the 
^ Sketch of Lovell, p. 76. 
[187] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

crews but as speedy escape as possible to 
the shore, and hardly an attempt was 
made to save anything. Some were run 
on shore, some anchored, some abandoned 
with all sails set, and most set on fire. 
Officers were despatched by General Lovell 
to the shore to collect and take charge of 
the troops; but so great was the panic, so 
convenient the woods and the approaching 
night, that but few could be found; the 
greater part, thinking that nothing further 
was expected of them, made the best of 
their way, singly or in squads, towards the 
Kennebec, where the most of them arrived 
after nearly a week's fatigue,^ suffering 
greatly from exposure and hunger, some 
of them tasting no food for several days. 
The ships of war were in no better con- 
dition than the transports, simply flying 
into a trap whence they could be taken at 
leisure. The general, fearing their de- 
struction, hastened to secure their safety, 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, pp. 230-237 
(Todd's report). 

[188] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

urging that a line be formed across the 
river, and a defence made at some point 
where that could easily be done, offering 
to support them with the troops that re- 
mained; but upon application to the com- 
modore to know if any measures had been 
concerted for their security, he found him 
wholly undetermined and irresolute — com- 
pletely unmanned." ^ 

The British commander. Sir George Col- 
lier, though he appreciated the fact that the 
provincial forces occupied the strategical 
advantage and possessed superior numbers 
as well, could not also fail to perceive 
that his enemy was panic-stricken. Made 
of better stuff than his Yankee opponent, 
he at once opened fire. The effect of his 
boldness was at once seen. Such vessels as 
the Americans did not permit him to cap- 
ture they blew up or set fire to. Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Revere, in command of the 
artillery and the ammunition stores on 

^ Lovell's report. Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, 
p. 158. 

[189] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

board the ordnance brig, had already gone 
ashore at Fort Pownal, but the deserted 
brig managed to get clear of the rest of 
the fleet and made her way for several 
miles up stream before being overtaken; 
then she was burned with all her stores. 

" To attempt to give a description of this 
terrible Day," wrote General Lovell,^ " is 
out of my Power it would be a fit Sub- 
ject for some masterly hand to describe it 
in its true colours, to see four Ships pur- 
suing seventeen Sail of Armed Vessels, 
nine of which were stout Ships, Transports 
on fire. Men of War blowing up. Provi- 
sions of all kinds, every kind of Stores on 
Shore (at least in small quantities) throw- 
ing about, and as much confusion as can 
possibly be conceived." 

In what a different strain the British 
chronicler of the expedition was able to 
write! Says John Calef in his journal,^ 
writing under date of August 14, 1779: 

^ Lovell's Journal^ p. 105. 
^ The Siege of the Penobscot, etc., p. 23. 
[190] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

" The harmony and good understanding 
that subsisted amongst the Forces by sea 
and land, enabled them to affect almost 
prodigies; for so ardently did they vie 
with each other in the general service, that 
it may be truly said, not a single Officer, 
Sailor or Soldier, was once seen to shrink 
from his duty, difficult and hazardous 
as it was. The flying scout of 50 men, 
commanded by Lieut. Caffrac, of the 
82d, in particular, distinguished them- 
selves to admiration, marching frequently 
almost round the peninsula, both by day 
and by night, and with drum and fife 
playing the tune called Yankee; which 
greatly dispirited the Enemy, and pre- 
vented their small parties from galling our 
men at the works. In one instance, they 
drove back to their incampment 300 of the 
Enemy who had been sent to storm an 
outwork. 

" The mancEvres of the Three Sloops of 
War, under the direction of Capt. Mowat, 
were, moreover, such as enabled the King's 
[1911 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

forces to hold out a close siege of 21 days, 
against a fleet and army of more than 
six times their number, and strength; in- 
somuch that, on the first appearance of 
the reinforcement from New York, in the 
ofiing, the Enemy debarked their troops, 
and sailed with their whole fleet up Penob- 
scot river, where they burnt their ship- 
ping, and from thence marched to their 
respective homes; and the loyal inhabitants, 
who were taken in the time of the siege, 
and cruelly treated on board their ships, 
had their irons taken off, and were set at 
liberty. 

" Thus did this little Garrison, with Three 
Sloops of War, by the unwearied exertions 
of Soldiers and Seamen, whose bravery can- 
not be too much extolled, under the judi- 
cious conduct of Officers whose zeal is hardly 
to be parallelled, succeed, in an enterprise 
of great importance, against difficulties 
apparently insurmountable, under circum- 
stances exceedingly critical, and in a man- 
ner strongly expressive of their faithful 
[192] 



The Court-Martial of Bevere 

and spirited attachment to the interests of 
their King and Country." ^ 

General Lovell made his way up the 
river, quieted the Indians, who were be- 
coming restless, settled the military affairs 
of the province of Maine as well as cir- 
cumstances would permit, and then re- 
turned to Boston, arriving there about Sep- 
tember 20.^ So great was the chagrin and 
excitement caused by the failure of the 
expedition that the General Court had al- 
ready ordered an investigation. On Sep- 
tember 9 a court of inquiry was appointed,^ 
consisting of Generals Michael Farley and 
Jonathan Titcomb, Colonel Moses Little, 
Major Samuel Osgood, and James Pres- 
cott. Esquire, with General Artemas Ward, 

^ Calef 's account gives the total number of Ameri- 
can ships of war, brigs and transports as 37, of which 26 
were burnt and 1 1 captured. The same authority puts 
the killed, wounded and missing of His Majesty's sea 
and land forces at 70, and the American losses at 474 
(p. 25). 

^ Chronicle and Advertiser, September 23, 1799. 

' Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, p. l67. 
13 [ 193 1 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

General Timothy Danielson, the Hon. 
WiUiam Sever, and Francis Dana, Esquire, 
of the Council. General Ward was presi- 
dent of the court, and on October 7 a re- 
port was made very properly attributing 
the disaster to a " want of proper Spirit 
and energy on the part of the Commo- 
dore " and to his " not exerting himself at 
all at the time of the retreat in opposing 
the enemy's foremost ships in pursuit." * 
The report completely exonerated Gen- 
erals Lovell and Wadsworth, and com- 
mended them for the exhibition of great 
courage and spirit. 

A warrant for a court-martial to try 
Commodore Saltonstall was issued Sep- 
tember 7. The court met pursuant to 
orders on the 14th but adjourned to the 
18th,^ the commodore complaining that too 
great haste might prejudice his case.^ Tra- 

^ General Court Records, Vol. 40, pp. 65-67 ; Ar- 
chives, Vol. 145, p. 350. 

2 Archives, Vol. 145, p l69. 

^ The records of this court-martial are probably 
not in existence. They may have been turned over 
[ 194 ] 



The Court-Martial of Eevere 

dition has it that Saltonstall was cashiered; 
but he appears afterward to have been the 
master of a vessel, the privateer Minervdy 
which, in 1781, captured the Hannah, an 
act that provoked the British descent on 
New London, the burning of that place by- 
Arnold, and the massacre of the troops at 
Fort Griswold. Up to the time of the 
Penobscot expedition Saltonstall had borne 
an excellent reputation for competence and 
patriotism.^ 

Revere had returned to Boston some 
weeks earlier than Lovell. He found him- 
self deeply involved in the scandal, and his 
reputation almost as much in jeopardy as 
that of Saltonstall. One of his critics was 
General Lovell himself, according to a let- 
to the federal authorities, filed away in the Navy De- 
partment, and destroyed when the British burned 
the public buildings at Washington in the War of 
1812. 

^ Goss, Vol. 2, p. 336. Mr. Goss, basing his judg- 
ment on the story of the Minerva incident, thinks that 
Saltonstall subsequently proved himself brave and 
loyal. 

[195] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 



ter of Captain Todd, who quoted the gen- 
eral as saying " that he was surprized at 
Col Revere's inattention to his duty." ^ No 
official notice, however, was paid to the 
gossip, and the Council ordered him, Au- 
gust 27, to resume command at Fort Wil- 
liam. But within ten days the Council had 
a formal complaint concerning Revere's 
conduct lodged with it. The captain of 
marines on board the ship of war General 
Putnam, one of the Penobscot fleet, Thomas 
Jenness Carnes, wrote as follows: 

" Gentlemen 

" Being Requested to Lodge a complaint 
against L. Col: Paul Revear, for his be- 
havour at Penobscot — which I do in the 
following manner, Viz 

" First For disobedience of orders from 
General Lovell in two Instances, Viz : When 
ordered to go on shore with two Eighteen 
pounders, One twelve. One four & One 
Hoitzer Excused himself — 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, p. 237. 

[196] 



The Court-Martial of Eevere 

" Second When ordered by Major Todd 
at the Retreat to go with his Men and 
take said Cannon from the Island, Refused, 
and said his orders was to be under the 
Command of Gen Lovell, during the Ex- 
pedition to Penobscot; & that the Siege 
was rais'd, he did not consider himself 
under his Command — 

" Thirdly For neglect of Duty in Sev- 
eral instances — 

" Fourthly For unsoldierlike behavour, 
During the whole expedition to Penobscot, 
which tends to Courdice — 

"Fifthly For Refusing Gen. Wads- 
worth, the Castle Barge to fetch some men 
on shore from a Schooner, which was near 
the Enemy's ships on the Retreat up the 
River — 

" Sixthly For leaving his men and suf- 
fering them to dispurce and takeing no 

manner of Care of them — 

^ ^ , " T. J. Carnes. 

"Septa 1779.^ 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, p. l66. Curi- 
ously enough in spite of his charges reflecting upon 

[197] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

The filing of these charges was followed 
by instant action. Revere was arrested the 
same day, September 6, " and ordered to 
resign the Command of Castle Island and 
remove himself to his dwelling house in 
Boston there to continue until the matter 
Complained of could be duly inquired into 
or he be discharged by the General As- 
sembly or Council." ^ 

But he was compelled to remain a 
prisoner on honor within his own home 
for only three days, when the arrest was 
taken off and he was suffered to go 
free.^ There can be no doubt that he 
courted the fullest investigation, believ- 
ing the charges inspired by the malicious 
gossip of personal enemies. This seems 
clear from his letters to the Council at 

Revere' s conduct Games stood with Revere and Sal- 
tonstall in voting to discontinue operations when many 
of the officers beHeved in assuming the aggressive. — 
Archives, Vol. 57, p. 327. 

^ Revere's letter to the Q)uncil. Massachusetts 
Archives, Vol. 226, p. 254 ; also Vol. 175, p. 545. 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 175, p. 554. 
[198] 



The Court-Martial of Bevere 

this time. Thus, on September 9 he 
wrote : ^ 

" Gentlemen, — I feel the highest obliga- 
tions to Your Honors for Your Candour 
to me, when the popular clamour, runs so 
strong against me: Had your Honors have 
shewn as little regard for my character, as 
my Enemies have done; Life would have 
been insupportable. Were I conscious that 
I had onmiitted doing any one thing to 
Reduce the Enemy, either thro fear, or by 
willfull opposition, I would not wish for a 
single advocate. I beg your Honors, that 
in a proper time, there may be a strict en- 
quiry into my conduct where I may meet 
my accusers face to face. 

" Gentlemen, I am told by my friends 
that Cap Thomas Carnes informed your 
Honors yesterday, that I did not land with 
my men the day we took possession of 
Magabagaduce, which is so glaring a false- 
hood, that I beg your Honors would favor 
me with an oppertunity, of seeing him face 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 201, p. 272. 

[ 199 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

to face before your Honors; to take off 
any impression it may have made to my 
disadvantage. 

" I am Your Honors Obed* 
" Hum^ Servant 

" Paul Revere. 
" The Honorable Council." 

In another long letter written to the 
Committee of Inquiry while it was in ses- 
sion, Revere frankly expressed his belief 
that he was being persecuted at the insti- 
gation chiefly of a Captain Todd.^ Said he : 

" It lays with you in a great measure, 
from the evidence for and against me, to 
determine what is more dearer to me than 
life, my character. I hope and expect that 
you will make proper allowance for the 
prejudices, which have taken place, in con- 
sequence of stories, propagated by design- 
ing men to my disadvantage. I beg leave 
to mention to your Honors a matter; tho 
at first, it may appear foreign to the pres- 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, pp. 336-340. 
[200] 



The Court-Martial of Bevere 

ent case, yet in the end, it will give some 
light; why stories have been propagated 
against me. Your Honors must remember 
the dificulties which arose in our Regiment 
the last February when it was reduced to 
three Companys. Because I accepted the 
command, (which was by desire of the 
Council) and did all in my power, to hinder 
the men from deserting: And because I 
would not give up my Commission, in the 
same way the other Officers did, some of 
them propagated every falsehood. Malice 
could invent in an underhanded way. 

" I shall trouble your Honors but with 
one Fact, which I appeal to the Hon^^® 
General Ward for the truth of. 

" Not long after the Regiment was re- 
duced Captains Todd and Gray, waited on 
General Ward, to complain against me; 
after saying many things to my disadvan- 
tage, (as the General told me the same 
day), Capt. Todd asked the General to go 
with him in another room. He then told 
him. He would prove or he believed he 
[201] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

could prove, that I had drawn Rations at 
the Castle for thirty men, more than I had 
there. The General said he told them, if 
they had anything against me, to enter a 
complaint against me to Council, and I 
should be called upon. A few days after 
I received an Order of Council to attend 
them, and was served with a Coppy of a 
petition, signed by Capt^ Gray, Todd and 
others, wherein they desire to be heard per- 
sonaly on matters set forth in the Petition 
and other Matters. I appeared at the ap- 
pointed time and they never produced a 
single article against me. I well remember 
that three of your Honors were in the 
Council at the time. Ever since they have 
done everything in their power to hurt me, 
by insinuations: Tho' none of them ever 
charged me to my face." ^ 

^ In this letter Revere recites at length the events 
of the expedition, giving many petty details which have 
no interest now. The narration is a striking example of 
Revere' s methodical habits, being based upon a care- 
fully kept diary, in which, from the time the party left 
Boston till its return, he set down each day's happenings. 
[202] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

This Captain Todd was one of General 
Lovell's brigade majors in the Penobscot ex- 
pedition, and Revere had protested against 
his being accepted for that service, explain- 
ing to the general that he should never speak 
to Todd except in the line of duty. The 
protest not having been heeded, the relations 
of the two men were strained throughout 
the trip. 

Captain Carnes, upon whose complaint 
Revere was arrested by the Council, charged 
that, when the landing was made at Baga- 
duce (called also Magabagaduce), Revere 
remained on the beach with his men, and did 
not go up the steep until the marines and 
militia had got possession of the height; 
that he had carried all his men on board 
the transport, and lodged them there in- 
stead of forcing to the front in the attack- 
ing column; and that instead of getting 
the cannon he was to use on shore by em- 
ploying his own men for the purpose, he 
allowed the sailors to perform this duty for 
him. No witnesses were called to substan- 
[203] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

tiate these charges, and Revere, in his ex- 
position in self-defence, pointed out that 
General Lovell and all of Revere's own 
subordinate officers had proved the first 
charge false, while the second charge was 
likewise shown by the testimony of nu- 
merous witnesses to be without foundation. 
As for the third allegation. Revere ad- 
mitted this to be in part true, two 
18-pounders having been put ashore by 
the sailors chiefly; but a 12-pound how- 
itzer and heavy field piece were landed by 
Revere's men, and his men assisted in the 
whole business. 

Revere was also charged with being 
guilty of disobedience of orders upon sev- 
eral occasions, of unsoldierlike behavior in 
general, and in particular of having re- 
fused to assist General Wadsworth with a 
boat in a certain instance. To all of which 
he pleaded that the evidence showed him, 
if not innocent of every act charged, inno- 
cent at all events of guilty intent, saying: 
"If to obey Orders, and to keep close to 
[204] 



The CourtrMartial of Bevere 

my duty is unsoldierlike, I was Guilty. As 
to Cowardice during the whole expedition, 
I never was in any Sharp Action, nor was 
any of the Artillery; but in what little I 
was, no one has dared to say that I flinched. 
My officers all swear that whenever there 
was an alarm, I was one of the first in 
the Battery. I think that no mark of 
Cowardice." ^ 

It is certain that Revere left the expedi- 
tion and returned to Boston without spe- 
cific orders from the commanding general to 
do so. To what extent this was a serious 
breach of discipline under the demoralized 
condition of afi*airs at Bagaduce, and one 
justifying the bringing of a complaint 
against him of disobedience to orders, let 
the reader judge. Concerning it, Revere 
says : " There was something mentioned 
about a letter, wrote to the Hon^ Council 
by the General, which reflected on me. The 
General tells you it was because he thought 

^ Revere's letter to the Council, Massachusetts Ar- 
chives, Vol. 145, p. 338. 

[205] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

I did not go up the River on the 15th when 
he Ordered me, and that I should not have 
gone home to Boston with my men without 
his Order. That I did go up the River 
has been fully proved. That I came home 
without his Orders is true: where could I 
have found either the General [Lovell] or 
the Brigadier [Wadsworth], if it had been 
necessary to have got Orders : the first went 
100 miles up Penobscot River, and the other 
down, and I crossed the woods to the Ken- 
nebec River. My instructions from the 
Hon^^^ Council, to which I referred above, 
directs, that I shall * obey General Lovel, 
or other my Superior Officers during the 
continuance of the Expedition.' Surely 
no man will say, that the Expedition 
was not discontinued, when all the ship- 
ping was either taken, or Burnt, the 
Artillery and Ordinance Stores, all de- 
stroyed. I then looked upon it that I 
was to do, what I thought right. Ac- 
cordingly, I Ordered them (my men) to 
Boston by the shortest route, and that 
[206] 



The Court-Martial of Bevere 

Capt. Gushing should march them, and 
give Certificates for their subsistence on 
the Road." 

The report of the Court of Inquiry made 
October 7 was confined to general findings 
as to the cause of the disaster. This was 
by no means satisfactory to Revere, who, 
after his character had been attacked and 
his reputation for bravery and patriotism 
publicly besmirched, demanded that the 
charges against him should be passed upon. 
He wrote to the Council October 9, calling 
attention to the fact that the court had 
neither acquitted nor condemned him, and 
asking the Council to either order the court 
to sit again or to appoint a court-martial 
to try the charges against him. He desired 
this to be done at once, since some of his 
witnesses were about to go to sea. The 
House and Council complied with the re- 
quest and ordered the committee to sit 
again. It met, accordingly, November 11. 
The whole case of Revere was again ex- 
amined into, and on November 16 the 
[207] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

committee reported to the Council^ as 
follows : 

" The Committee of both Houses ap- 
pointed to make inquiry into the conduct 
of the officers of the Train, and the Militia 
officers, employed in the late Expedition to 
Penobscot, have attended the Service as- 
signed them; and the Opinion of your 
Committee on the subject matter will fully 
appear by the following questions and an- 
swers thereto Namely: 

" Ques*° 1. Was Lie* CoP Paul Revere 
crityzable for any of his conduct during his 
stay at Bagaduce, or while he was in, or 
upon the River Penobscot? 

" Answer. Yes. 

"2. What part of Lie* CoP Revere's 
conduct was crityzable? 

" Answer. In disputing the orders of 
Brigadier General Wadsworth respecting 
the Boat; & in saying that the Brigadier 
had no right to command him or his boat. 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 145, p. 375. 
[208] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

"3. Was Lie* CoP Paul Revere's con- 
duct justifyable in leaving River Penob- 
scot, and repairing to Boston, with his Men, 
without particular orders from his Superior 
officer? 

Answer. No, not wholly justifyable. 

" 4. Does anything appear in Evidence 
to the disadvantage of any of the Militia 
Officers, during the Expedition to Penob- 
scot, or on the retreat therefrom? 

"Answer. No. Excepting CoP Jona- 
than Mitchel, who by his own confession 
left the River Penobscot without leave from 
any Superior officer; and returned to North 
Yarmouth the place of his habitation. 

" All which is humbly Submitted. 

'' Artemas Ward pr order" 

Out of whatever facts this finding came, 
— whether from a stern and honest con- 
viction that Revere's conduct had been such 
as to merit condemnation and that his de- 
fence had not been altogether candid and 
sincere, or whether prompted by the influ- 
14 [ 209 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

ence of persons animated by malice, a 
suggestion involving a severe reflection 
upon the court, — we may fancy these im- 
portant old worthies composing the Court 
of Inquiry enjoying the situation at Re- 
vere's expense. He had not been satisfied 
to let well enough alone, they doubtless 
thought, but must needs insist on a special 
report, acquitting or condemning him, and 
trusting, of course, that he would be defi- 
nitely acquitted. Now he had got what 
he had petitioned for, and if the report 
was not what he expected, how could 
he, before the public, complain of the 
outcome? 

The report was not, of course, what 
Revere wanted. But he refused to pocket 
the chagrin and humiliation it must have 
caused him. Instead, he now boldly de- 
manded a regular court-martial, writing 
January 17, 1780, to the " Honorable 
Council of the Massachusetts State " as 
follows : ^ 

* Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 176, p. 109. 
[210] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

" Twice I have petitioned your Honors 
and once the House of Representatives for 
a Court Martial but have not obtained one. 
I believe that neither the Annals of Amer- 
ica, or Old England, can furnish an In- 
stance (except in despotick Reigns) where 
an Officer was put under an arrest and he 
petitioned for a Tryal (altho the Arrest 
was taken off) that it was not granted. 
The complaint upon which my arrest was 
founded, are amongst your Honors papers, 
and there will remain an everlasting monu- 
ment of my disgrace if I do not prove they 
are false; is there any legal way to prove 
them false, than by a Court-Martial " ; 

and he continues, advancing strong reasons 
why a hearing should be granted him. In 
this same letter he also prays for back ra- 
tions, not having had any since the previous 
June, except " what I drew at Penobscot. 
I have been maintaining a Family of 
twelve ever since, out of the remains of 
what I earned by twenty years hard labor." 
[211] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

This request for a grant of back rations was 
at once complied with by the Council, but the 
councillors completely ignored the demand 
for a court-martial. They were apparently 
more willing to deal justly by the body than 
with the character of the petitioner. Re- 
vere, however, persisted in his efforts to 
secure a formal vindication, and continued 
to write letters on the matter. March 9, 
1780,^ he submitted that for want of the 
court-martial he had three times petitioned 
for, he had been for six months " suffering 
all that Indignity which his Enemies who, 
he conceives, make it a personal affair, are 
pleased to impose upon him." 

Finally, April 13, the Council voted him 
a court-martial, which was ordered to sit 
on the 18th at the county court-house in 
Boston. Colonel Edward Proctor was des- 
ignated president and William Tudor 
judge-advocate, while twelve captains com- 
posed the court. They were ordered to 
make a return of their proceedings and 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 226, pp. 254, 255. 
[212] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

their judgment to the Council/ But for 
some reason not recorded the court did not 
convene, and, after waiting a year. Revere 
made one more effort to get a hearing. 
On the 22d of January, 1781, he sent this 
petition to the authorities : ^ 

"To the Hon^^^ the Senate and House 
of Representatives of the Massachusetts 
State in General Court Assembled. 

" The Petition of Paul Revere who com- 
manded a Corps of Artillery in the States 
Service — Sheweth — That Your Peti- 
tioner while in said service had a complaint 
preferred against him to the Hon^^^ Coun- 
cil by one Thomas Jeners Carnes, for mis- 
conduct on the Expedition to Penobscot; 
on which complaint Your Petitioner was 
arrested by the Hon^^® Council; two days 
after the arrest aforesaid was taken off 
and Your Petitioner ordered to attend the 
examination of a Committee for investi- 
gating the causes of the failure of that 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 226, pp. 256, 257. 
2 Ibid., Vol 187, p. 20. 

[213] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Expedition; that he as in duty bound at- 
tended said Committee; and, as Your Peti- 
tioner understands, the report of said 
Committee, was never excepted by both 
Houses. 

" That in such a situation as must be 
deemed grievous to any Officer, Your Pe- 
titioner petitioned the Hon^^^ Council and 
House of Representatives six different 
times between the 6th of Septem^ 1779, 
and the 8th of March 1780, for a Tryal 
by a Court-Martial, but did not obtain one, 
till about a fortnight before the time ex- 
pired for which said Corps was raised. 
When the Hon^^^ Council Ordered a Court- 
Martial, and appointed Col Edward Proc- 
tor President, which Court-Martial was 
never summoned by the President, and of 
course never met. The time expiring for 
which Your Petitioner was engaged; He 
has remained ever since suffering all the 
indignity which his Enemies, who he con- 
ceives have made it a personal affair, are 
pleased to impose upon him. 
[214] 



The Court-Martial of Revere 

" Your Petitioner therefore most ear- 
nestly Prays this Hon^^^ Assembly, to take 
his ease under consideration and Order 
either a Court-Martial, or a number of 
Officers, three, five, seven, or any number 
the Hon^^® Court may see proper. Conti- 
nentals or Militia, properly qualified, who 
may enquire into his conduct on said ex- 
pedition, and report, (all the evidence for 
and against Your Petitioner is in writing 
sworn too before Committee and now 
among the Hon^^^ Councils papers) that 
the truth may appear and be published to 
the World, and Your Petitioner as in duty 
bound will ever pray, &c. 

" Paul Revere. 

''Boston, Jan 22 1781." 

But again Revere was doomed to disap- 
pointment, the General Court ordering the 
petition to lie over to the next session. 
Then, however, and without waiting for 
another appeal from Revere, it was taken 
up. A second court-martial was appointed 
February 19, 1782, consisting of twelve 
[215] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

captains, with Brigadier- General Wareham 
Parks as president and Joshua Thomas as 
judge-advocate. Charges were formulated 
as follows : ^ 

" For his refusing to deliver a certain 
Boat to the Order of General Wadsworth 
when upon the retreat up Penobscot River 
from Major Bagwaduce; 

" For his leaving Penobscot River with- 
out Orders from his Commanding Officer." 

And this was the judgment of the court 
after reviewing the evidence: 

" The Court find the first Charge against 
Lnt CoP Paul Revere to be supported (to- 
wit) * his refusing to deliver a certain Boat 
to the Order of Gen^ Wadsworth when 
upon the Retreat up Penobscot River from 
Major Bagwaduce'; but the Court taking 
into consideration the suddenness of the 
refusal, and more especially, that the same 
Boat was in fact employed by Lnt CoP 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 172, pp. 105-112. 
[216] 



The CourtrMartial of Eevere 



Revere to eflPect the Purpose ordered by 
the General as appears by the General's 
Deposition, are of the Opinion, that Lnt 
Cop Paul Revere be acquitted of this 
Charge. 

" On the second Charge, the Court con- 
sidering that the whole Army was in great 
Confusion, and so scattered and dispersed, 
that no regular Orders were or could be 
given, are of Opinion, that Lnt CoP Re- 
vere, be acquitted with equal Honor as the 
other Officers in the same Expedition. 

" A true Copy from the Minutes. 

"Attest. J. Thomas, Judge- Advocate,'' 

" I approve of the Opinion of the Court 
Martial as stated in the foregoing Report. 

" John Hancock." 

Thus at last, after three years of persist- 
ent endeavor. Revere succeeded in obtain- 
ing from a friendly court a vindication of 
his conduct in the Penobscot expedition. 



[217] 



VI — THE MAN OF BUSINESS 
AFTER THE WAR 

1782-1804 

CORRESPONDENCE with rela- 
tives over-seas which seems to have 
been interrupted at the outbreak 
of the war was renewed toward its close, 
and nothing in documentary form that has 
come down to us gives a more spirited 
impression of the Revere character-traits 
than these letters.^ Here is a portion of 
one written by Paul to his cousin, Mathias 
Rivoire, dated October 6, 1781: 

"With the utmost cheerfulness I com- 
municate to you what you so kindly inquire 
after *my situation in life.' My Father 
was a Goldsmith, he died in the year 1754, 
he left no estate, but he left a good name 
and seven children, three sons and four 
daughters. I was the eldest son. I learned 

^ Goss, Vol. 2, pp. 4i99 et seq. 
[218] 



Man of Business after the War 

the trade of him and have carried on the 
business ever since; until the year 1775 
when the American Revolution began; 
from that time till May 1780, I have been 
in the Government service as Lieut. Col. 
of an Artillery regiment — the time for 
which that was raised then expired and I 
thought it best to go to my business again, 
which I now carry on, and under which I 
trade some to Holland. I did intend to 
have gone wholly into trade but the prin- 
cipal part of my interest I lent to Govern- 
ment, which I have not been able to draw 
out; so must content myself till I can do 
better. I am in middling circumstances 
and very well off for a tradesman. I am 
forty-seven years old; I have a wife and 
eight children alive; my eldest daughter is 
married; my eldest son has learned my 
trade since we left the army, and is now 
in business for himself. I have one brother 
and two sisters alive. 

" You desire me to send you a seal with 
the arms of our Family; enclosed is one, 
[219 1 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

which I pray you to accept of: it is one 
of my own engraving (for that is part of 
my trade) which I hope will be acceptable 
to you. 

" Before this reaches you, you will have 
heard of the victory gained over the British 
Army by the Allied Armies commanded by 
the brave General Washington (A small 
engraving of him, I send enclosed, it is 
said to be a good likeness and it is my 
engraving). Which I hope will produce 
peace." ^ 

Revere and his Isle of Guernsey cousin, 
John Rivoire, had an interesting exchange 
of letters in 1782 relative to the French 
alliance. John wrote: 

"Guernsey Jan 28'^ 1782. 

" Dear Cousin. 

" I wrote you the 18^^ ultimo acknowl- 
edging your agreeable favor of 21^* of Jan- 

* Mathias Rivoire acknowledged the receipt of this 
letter with the seal and engraving of Washington, 
"representing a gallant warrior." Mathias in this 
letter gives at some length the Rivoire genealogy. 
[ 220 ] 



Man of Business after the War 

uary last my said letter was forwarded by 
my friends at Bordeaux who will forward 
this same to you by the first opportunity. 
You will find therein what confidence there 
is in the French Nation in general. You 
will also observe the opinion the emperor 
of Moroco had of them by his letter to 
Queen Anne of Great Britain of which 
you have a true copy annexed with my last 
letter. 

" You will find said letter also printed in 
the Town and Country Magazine of Sep- 
tember last, page 472. I heartily wish the 
Americans could open their eyes in time 
before it is too late to repent the dan- 
gerous alliance they have made with the 
French. They seem at first like turtle 
doves, polite and humble till they can get 
their ends; but after they are masters there 
is none in the world such for tyrrany and 
oppression. You may well compare them 
to Fire (viz) * Good Servants but very bad 
Masters.' You may depend their views are 
fixed on the best provinces in America, in 
[221 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

order to be reimbursed for the exhorbitant 
charges they will find against America for 
aiding and assisting the Americans against 
their lawful Sovereign and Mother Coun- 
try, against all Divine and human laws. 

" By what I have learned from a Cap- 
tain of our neighboring Island of Jersey, 
who was a prisoner at Boston about nine 
weeks ago, the French have already begun 
to show the inhabitants of Boston a speci- 
men of their arbitrary disposition, by pre- 
venting a seventy four Gunship to be built 
there and cutting or sawing her keel in two 
pieces. The said Captain tells us he was 
an eye-witness to this fact, and also other 
disorders committed at Boston by the 
French which I do not enumerate. I wish 
Congress knew them as well and in per- 
fection as I do. Certainly they would not 
rely on any of their promises or even their 
signature in anything whatsoever. The 
French Court is very glad to see us de- 
stroy one another and with joy give the 
assistance to our mutual destruction, in- 
[ 222 ] 



Man of Business after the War 

stead of us being hand in hand, united 
together to destroy this vermin and scum 
of the earth. I will suppose for one mo- 
ment there is faults on both sides, I mean 
between England and America, which 
is a similar case as between Mother and 
Daughter, how easy in my opinion the 
whole could be compromised and adjusted, 
England having repealed their Acts of 
Parliament concerning America, and leav- 
ing it as it was in the year 1763. 

" Why don't America accept this gener- 
ous offer from its Mother Country? Some 
Americans will say for excuse it is too late, 
we have made a Treaty with France, we 
cannot be let off. There is no nation in 
the world but would do it, after opening 
their eyes to any dangerous Treaty they 
had made, which is the case with the 
Americans. Which Treaty tends only to 
their ruin and destruction. . . ." 

The latter continues, giving the infor- 
mation that the writer is " Receiver- Gen- 
[223] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

eral for all duties on goods and ships " in 
all the harbors of the island, that he re- 
ceives " the monies for the Royal Hospital 
at Greenwich," and for ten years has been 
captain of a company of militia consisting 
of sixty-five men, all of whom " are dis- 
ciplined as Regulars." These facts explain 
perhaps why John Rivoire, in spite of his 
French name and lineage, he being scarcely 
more than an adopted Englishman, char- 
acterizes the French wdth such amusing 
viciousness as " vermin and scum of the 
earth." Rivoire's opinion, nevertheless, as 
to the disinterestedness of the part played 
by the French in the cause of American 
independence is probably very much nearer 
the truth of history than was his American 
cousin's heated defence of France against 
this attack. How thorough-going and con- 
sistent an imperialist John Rivoire was is 
seen in the sage suggestion he makes in a 
postscript to this same letter: "Instead 
of America's quarreling with its Mother 
Country it ought hand in hand to join 
[224] 



Man of Business after the War 

with her and attack the Gold & Silver 
mines in the Spanish Dominions in South 
America. As it is certain there is a revolt 
in those parts between the Spaniards and 
the natives." 

Revere's fervid reply to his cousin's ob- 
servations on the relations that England, 
France, and America ought to sustain 
toward each other was in keeping with his 
temperament ; 

' "Boston, July 1, 1782. 

"Dear Cousin 

" Your favor of Jan^ last came safe to 
hand. It was forwarded by Mess. Brom- 
field & Ingraham at Amsterdam. This is 
the only letter I have received from you 
since March 1775. I am glad yoii are in 
health, and it gives me great pleasure to 
find that you are in so good business in 
Guernsey; you did not write me word, 
whether you were married; if you are not, 
nor do not marry soon, I am afraid they 
will call you an old Bachelor. 
15 [ 225 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

" I have received several letters from our 
cousin Mathias Rivoire in S^ Foy, he de- 
sires me to remember his best love to you. 
— You may remember, that in your letter 
to me in 1775, you gave me directions how 
to write to him ; those directions found him ; 
& we now correspond together. 

" I am sorry my dear Cousin, that you 
have such despicable sentiments of the 
French nation. — I can easily account for 
your prejudice; before this War, I was as 
much prejudiced against them as you are; 
and that prejudice arose from our connec- 
tion with Brittan; now we have broke that 
connection; we can see with more impartial 
eyes, and find the French Nation to be quite 
the reverse of what you suppose them, and 
of what we used to think them — they are 
a brave, humane, generous, and polite Na- 
tion. You tell me that the alliance we have 
entered into with that Nation is a danger- 
ous one; we do not conceive that to be the 
case — So much is a fact, (on the side of 
that Nation) it is a generous one. You say 
[ 226 ] 



Man of Business after the War 

* when once they get their ends answer'd & 
are masters, they are the greatest Tyrants 
in the world ' — this we are sure of, they 
cannot be worse than the Brittons, and 
should they attempt to enslave us, we will 
serve them as we have done the Brittons, 
drive them from our Country. You say 

* we have entered into a war with Brittain 
against all laws human & divine.' You do 
not use all the candour which I am sure 
you are master of, else you have not looked 
into the merits of the quarrel. They cove- 
nanted with the first settlers of this coun- 
try, that we should enjoy ' all the Libertys 
of free natural born subjects of Great 
Britain.' They were not contented to have 
all the benefit of our trade, in short to have 
all our earnings, but they wanted to make 
us hewers of wood, & drawers of water. 
Their Parliament have declared ' that they 
have a right to tax us & Legislate for us, 
in all cases whatever ' — now certainly if 
they have a right to take one shilling from 
us without our consent, they have a right 

[227] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

to all we possess; for it is the birthright 
of an Englishman, not to be taxed without 
the consent of himself, or Representative. 

" You say that a Captain belonging to 
Jersey, informed you, that the French had 
prevented a 74 gun ship from being built 
that they cut or sawed her keel in two 
pieces & that he saw it done. You may 
depend it is an infamous falsehood; the 
ship stands just the same now as she did 
three years ago. The reason why she has 
never been finished is because we had not 
riggers sufficient for her. One ship of 74 
guns was launched at Piscataway this 
Spring & is now fitting for sea. 

" You say * The French are glad to see 
us destroy one another.' I cannot joyn with 
you. I believe the French are glad to see 
Britain weakened; in short I am convinced 
that their chief motive in taking part with 
us, was that we might be independent of 
Brittain, for you must be sensible that 
Brittain had got to such a pitch of domi- 
nation, (puffed up with the success of the 
[ 228 ] 



Man of Business after the War 

last war with France & Spain) that they 
thought the whole world ought to be beasts 
of Burthen to them. I think that pride has 
been obliged to stoop, 

" You say * You will suppose for one 
moment that there is faults on both sides; 
that is, England & America are both in 
fault.' The supposition is entirely ground- 
less, the fault is wholly on the side of 
England, America took every method in 
her power by petitioning &c. to remain 
subject to Brittain; but Brittain (I mean 
the British King & Ministers) did not want 
Colonies of free men they wanted Colonies 
of Slaves, Like the fable of the Woman 
& Hen, by grasping at too much they will 
lose all. 

" You ask why don't America accept 
the generous offer from England to put 
them in the situation they were in 1763. I 
answer for many reasons. They have en- 
joyed six years of independence, and no 
offer England can make will induce them 
to part with it — besides we can put no 
[229] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

confidence either in your King or Minis- 
ters. Did not Lord North tell the parlia- 
ment that he would accept of nothing short 
of unconditional submission, and why did 
he ever stoop to make us offers but to get 
us there; we should be the most abject 
Slaves in the whole world had they used 
lenient measures in the beginning of the 
war, matters would soon have been ami- 
cably settled. What has not England done 
to subjugate us? They have proved what 
Voltaire asserted of them, to be true, Viz 
that they are the Savages of Europe. They 
have hired foreign Troops to massacre us; 
they have set the Indians on our helpless 
women & children to butcher them — they 
have encouraged the Negro servants to as- 
sassinate their masters — they have burned 
our defenceless Towns & Citys — they have 
Ravished our Wives and daughters, — they 
have murdered our old men in cool blood & 
have hanged our young men wantonly; and 
what is still worse if possible, they have 
confined the men, whom they have taken 
[230] 



Man of Business after the War 

prisoners in loathsome ships & Goals till 
they have died by inches. I do assure you 
the name of an Englishman is as odious 
to an American, as that of a Turk or a 
Savage. You may depend that the Ameri- 
cans will never submit to be under the Brit- 
tons again. Should England declare them 
Independent in time they may enter into a 
Treaty with them similar to that of France, 
but no other. 

" England has lately been trying to break 
our connections with France. But we have 
Resolved to Die in the last ditch, rather than 
break our National Faith. 

" I now follow my business again of a 
Goldsmith & trade a little. I have 8 chil- 
dren alive. The eldest daughter is married 
& has one child. My eldest son has left the 
Army & is in business for himself. My 
wife Joyns with me in our best love to 
you, My dear Cousin I must once more 
invite you to come to America. Should 
there be a peace, which I hope is not far 
distant, you may in joy all the liberty here, 
[231] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

which the human mind so earnestly craves 
after. I am not rich, but I am in good 
circumstances & if you will come here you 
shall not want; while I have a shilling, you 
shall have part." 

The correspondence continued through 
several years, being devoted largely to 
family matters. One incident which 
formed the subject of an interchange of 
letters is deserving of preservation because 
of the side-light it casts on Revere's char- 
acter. It seems that about 1782 a French- 
man by the name of Paul Ri voire, who 
had settled on a farm near Philadelphia, 
died, leaving no known relatives in Amer- 
ica, whereupon a friend of Revere in 
Philadelphia acquainted him with the fact, 
thinking that perhaps a relationship might 
exist between them. Revere accordingly 
took pains to verify the information, and 
ascertained that the French consul had 
taken charge of the dead man's eifects for 
the benefit of any relatives that might 
[232] 



Man of Business after the War 

come forward. Revere, however, accord- 
ing to his own statement, dropped the 
matter without further interesting himself 
in it, except to mention it in a letter to his 
cousin Mathias, in order that the latter 
might notify the deceased's relatives in 
France. Being unable to write French, 
Paul Revere was in the habit of having 
his letters, written by his own hand in 
English, transcribed into French before 
forwarding them to his French cousin. 
Unfortunately it so happened that in the 
translation of this particular letter the 
writer was made to refer to the death of 
the Philadelphian in terms that caused 
Mathias to suspect that his cousin's inter- 
est in the disposition of the dead man's 
effects was not entirely unselfish. Mathias 
conveyed his impressions to John Rivoire, 
who wrote Paul, March 9, 1786, enclosing 
the letter he had from Mathias, and inti- 
mating that Revere had endeavored to ob- 
tain possession of the Philadelphia Rivoire's 
property. 

[ 233 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

To these insinuations Revere replied with 
considerable show of feeling, under date of 
May 19, 1786: 

"I have got our Cousin Mathias's letter 
translated into English (for you must 
know, that I can neither read nor write 
French, so as to take the proper mean- 
ing). I do assure you I was greatly sur- 
prised that you could have so despicable an 
opinion of me, as to suppose that I could 
be guilty of so great a Crime, as to cheat 
you or any other person, much more a re- 
lation; or that I could receive to my own 
use, any man's ' Estate or Effects ' with- 
out a legal right; I do assure you, that I 
have as good a claim to the point of 
' Honor and Honesty ' you mention as 
any person who ever signed his name 
Rivoire (altho my Father and myself 
signed our names Revere, for which I 
thought I had given you sufficient reason 
in my former letters). I do assure you I 
do not set so much value upon a little more 
[234] 



Man of Business after the War 

Earth, as to destroy that peace of mind 
and that clear conscience which I know 
myself possessed of. I never have and I 
never expect to receive, one single farthing 
by the death of any relation; on the con- 
trary it has always been my lot to do for 
others and I desire to be thankful that it 
has been in my power to help them. 

" You say, you desire ' to be acquainted 
in full of this affair ' in my next ; and then 
say, ' you can have the truth from your 
friend Mr. Daniel Vardon of Philadel- 
phia;' and then subjoin 'it is better to 
have the truth under my own handwrit- 
ing;' I do assure you, my good Cousin, it 
gave me great pain when I read those lines; 
those cautions were quite unnecessary to 
me; all I can say is, I am sorry you did 
not know me better, it would have been 
quite sufficient with me if you had only 
desired me to give you a narration of the 
matter mentioned in Cousin Mathias' letter. 
But I will now give it you in as concise a 
manner as possible." 

[235] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

The writer then tells the story of the 
Philadelphia Rivoire affair substantially as 
narrated above, and closes his letter thus: 

"Since my last letter to you I have lost 
one of the finest Boys that was ever born, 
two years and three months old, named 
John, whom I named for you. 

" I now begin to think that I shall have 
no more children.^ I have had fifteen chil- 
dren and six Grandchildren, born in wed- 
lock. Mrs. Rivoire and family join with 
me in our sincere wishes that the best of 
Heaven's blessings may descend and rest 
upon you, and believe me to be dear Cousin, 
" Your sincere and affectionate 

" Relation and Servant." 

Revere retired from the army in 1780, 
the same year that Massachusetts com- 
pleted her organization as an independent 
commonwealth by the adoption of her 
state constitution. Among the first acts 

^ He had another son, whom he also named John, 
bom after this, — March 27, 1787. 
[236] 



Man of Business after the War 

of the governor's council was to make pro- 
vision for a new official seal, and to Re- 
vere, who had made the seal in use by the 
province after 1775, was, of course, in- 
trusted the work of engraving the insignia 
of the commonwealth. He fulfilled the 
contract and sent in his bill for £900, 
which the Council treated as it was wont 
to treat most of his bills, — cut it down 
quite substantially. He was allowed "£600 
or £8 hard money, equal to £15 New 
Emission." ^ 

The federal constitution was ratified by 
Massachusetts only after a hard struggle 
in the convention, which met on the 9th of 
January, 1788. " In none of the thirteen 
states," says John Fiske,^ " was there a 
more intense devotion to state rights than 
in Massachusetts. Nowhere had local self- 
government reached a higher degree of 
efficiency; nowhere had the town meet- 
ing flourished with such vigour. It was 

^ Massachusetts Archives, Vol. 177, p. 332. 

^ Critical Period of American History, pp. 317 et seq, 

[237] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

especially characteristic of men trained in 
the town meeting to look with suspicion 
upon all delegated power, upon all author- 
ity that was to be exercised from a distance. 
They believed it to be all important that 
people should manage their own affairs, 
instead of having them managed by other 
people; and so far had this principle been 
carried that the towns of Massachusetts 
were like little semi-independent republics, 
and the state was like a league of such re- 
publics, whose representatives, sitting in the 
state legislature, were like delegates strictly 
bound by instructions rather than untram- 
melled members of a deliberative body. 
To men trained in such a school, it would 
naturally seem that the new Constitution 
delegated altogether too much power to a 
governing body which must necessarily be 
remote from most of its constituents. It 
was feared that some sort of tyranny might 
grow out of this, and such fears were en- 
tertained by men who were not in the 
slightest degree infected with Shaysism, as 
[238] 



Man of Business after the War 

the political disease of the inland counties 
was then called. Such fears were enter- 
tained by one of the greatest citizens that 
Massachusetts has ever produced, the man 
who has been well-described as pre-emi- 
nently ' the man of the town meeting,' — 
Samuel Adams. ... At this time he was 
believed by many to be hostile to the new 
Constitution, and his influence in Massa- 
chusetts was still greater than that of any 
other man. Besides this, it was thought 
that the governor, John Hancock, was half- 
hearted in his support of the Constitution, 
and it was in everybody's mouth that El- 
bridge Gerry had refused to set his name 
to that document because he felt sure it 
would create a tyranny. . . . 

" But there were strong forces at work in 
the opposite direction. In Boston and all 
the large coast towns, even those of the 
Maine district, the dominant feehng was 
Federalist. All well-to-do people had been 
alarmed by the Shays insurrection, and 
merchants, shipwrights, and artisans of 
[ 239 ] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

every sort were convinced that there was 
no prosperity in store for them until the 
federal government should have control 
over commerce, and be enabled to make its 
strength felt on the seas and in Europe. 
In these views Samuel Adams shared so 
thoroughly that his attitude toward the Con- 
stitution at this moment was really that of 
a waverer rather than an opponent. Amid 
balancing considerations he found it for 
some time hard to make up his mind." 

Indeed, for two weeks Adams scarcely 
opened his mouth during the debates. He 
listened to the arguments on both sides 
more in the attitude of a judge than a mem- 
ber of the assembly itself, and in fact, 
though his vote counted only one, so great 
was the confidence reposed in his opinion 
that it was recognized by both factions in 
the almost equally divided convention that 
the momentous issue would be in reality de- 
termined by his final views. Weeks passed 
and the battle was still raging with the re- 
sult in doubt when the mechanics of Boston 
[ 240 ] 



Man of Business after the War 

under the leadership of Paul Revere, who 
appears to have been a stout advocate of 
the federal constitution, decided to bring 
the pressure of public opinion to bear 
upon the long-winded convention. They 
held a mass meeting and passed resolutions. 
Whatever else Boston can or cannot do in 
great historical crises she can always be 
depended upon to "resolve" in ringing 
language. On this occasion the class of 
citizens who most aggressively demanded 
the ratification of the instrument which 
meant a strong union of the states were 
the plain people whose voice Sam Adams 
had never failed to heed in the past, and in 
whose sound sense and practical judgment 
he had the profound faith of a genuine 
democrat. 

So, when the resolutions were handed to 
him, Adams was deeply impressed with 
their significance. 

" How many mechanics," he asked Re- 
vere, "were at the Green Dragon when 
these resolutions were passed?" 
16 [ Ml ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

" More, sir, than the Green Dragon could 
hold," replied Revere. 

" And where were the rest, Mr. Revere? '' 

" In the streets, sir." 

" And how many were in the streets? " 

" More, sir 1 than there are stars in the 
sky." ' 

No doubt this demonstration had weight 
with Adams, whose temperament and sym- 
pathies were such that tangible evidence to 
the effect that the new constitution was a 

^ This dramatic report of the conversation that is 
alleged to have passed between Adams and Revere is 
probably based on tradition. It appears to have been 
first given to the public by Daniel Webster in a speech 
at Pittsburg, July 8, 1833. Loring, in the Hundred 
Boston Orators (p. 21 6), quotes a letter written in 1848 
by the venerable Harrison Gray Otis, then past eighty, 
in which Otis wrote : " I well remember the adoption 
of the constitution by my fellow-citizens of the state, 
when Hancock, muffled in red baize, was brought into 
the convention to sign the ratification. The evening 
preceding, a demonstration in favor of the measure 
was made in the streets of Boston, by an assemblage 
favorable to it, whose numbers, Paul Revere assured 
Samuel Adams, were like the sands of the sea-shore, or 
like the stars in heaven." 

[242] 



Man of Business after the War 

popular document may have been quite suf- 
ficient to turn the scales with him. Other 
events and circumstances may, assuredly, 
have operated to produce the same result 
had this episode never occurred/ What we 
know for a certainty is that when it was 
proposed to remedy the theoretical objec- 
tions to the constitution as adopted by the 
federal convention by the addition of sun- 
dry amendments embodying the Massa- 
chusetts " bill of rights " principles, Sam 
Adams at once gave in his adherence, and 
a week after he had announced his decision 
to support the instrument, namely, on the 
6th of February, 1788, the constitution was 
ratified by the Massachusetts convention by 
a vote of 187 to 168. The majority in 
favor was so narrow that it cannot be gain- 
said that Adams' support was the deciding 

^ Fiske, while admitting that this episode probably 
had some influence with Adams, maintains that the 
situation was already "taking such a turn as would 
have decided him, even without the aid of this famous 
mass-meeting." — The Critical Period of American His- 
tort/, p. 328. 

[ 243 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

factor, and as the constitution could never 
have been a practical success with the ad- 
herence of so important a state as Massa- 
chusetts lacking, the significance of Adams' 
attitude is not to be exaggerated. No inci- 
dent, therefore, which may have contributed 
even in a slight degree toward determining 
his frame of mind on this subject is to be 
too lightly dismissed. 

In 1783 Revere had opened a hardware 
store in Essex Street, directly opposite the 
site of the old Liberty Tree. Here he 
kept a stock of gold necklaces, bracelets, 
lockets, rings, medals, silver pitchers, tea- 
pots, spoons, sugar baskets, spectacle bows, 
knee and shoe buckles, candlesticks, blazers, 
etc. Many of these were of his own manu- 
facture, and, purchased by the aristocracy 
of the town, found their way into numerous 
old families whose descendants hold them 
to-day among their most precious posses- 
sions. But this business did not pay so well 
but that its proprietor felt the desirability 
[244] 



Man of Business after the War 

of eking out his income by a public position ; 
or, was Revere only of the common clay of 
which so many patriots are made, and who, 
after having helped save their country in 
time of war, conceive that she owes them a 
living in time of peace? At all events, as 
soon as the federal government was settled 
upon what promised to be a stable basis 
under the new constitution he tried to get 
his friend. Congressman Fisher Ames, to 
exert his influence to obtain for him a gov- 
ernment position. 

Ames, writing from New York, April 
26, 1789, responded ^ in the cautious lan- 
guage of true diplomacy characteristic of 
all clever politicians: " I am no stranger to 
your services and zeal on the side of liberty, 
and in my mind that sort of merit will 
greatly support the claims of the candi- 
date who can plead it. The number of ex- 
pectants however will be considerable, and 
many have merit and powerfull patronage." 
Whatever this position was which Revere 

^ Family papers, Goss, Vol. 2, pp. 460-462. 
[245] 



TJie True Story of Paul Bevere 

wanted he did not get, and two years later 
we find him again beseeching Ames, this 
time for a place in connection with the pro- 
posed establishment of the national mint, or, 
if that should prove out of the question, 
then a position in the excise department. 
Concerning this Ames wrote, January 24, 
1791 : 

" The secretary of state in one of his 
Reports has advised having the coinage 
under the immediate direction of Gov* and 
recommends a man who probably would 
be employed — However your known in- 
genuity might qualify you for it. The 
circumstances will not much encourage the 
hope of an appointment. 

" You mention another subject — a place 
in the Excise. I need not tell you how 
fully I confide in your integrity industry 
and public spirit — for that you know al- 
ready — But how do you stand with Gen- 
eral Lincoln? his good word would go far. 
It is probable that a principal inspector 
[246] 



Man of Business after the War 

will be appointed who will appoint Depu- 
ties — But if you should not think proper 
to depend on a deputation, and should send 
a petition to the Pres* asking an office in 
the Excise and referring for your Charac- 
ter to me, a regard to truth would oblige 
me to give my testimony in your favor." 

But all of these efforts failed, and Revere 
decided to continue in private business and 
make as good a living as possible at it. In 
1792 he established a foundry at the lower 
end of Foster Street on the east side, bor- 
dering on Lynn, now Causeway, Street, and 
announced his new venture to the public in 
a card^ as follows: 

" Paul Revere and Son at their Bell and 
Cannon Foundry at the North part of 
Boston Cast Bells and Brass Cannon of 
all Sizes and all kinds of Composition 
Work. Manufacture Sheets, Bolts, Spikes, 
Nails, &c., from Malleable Copper and 

^ Rambles in Old Boston, E. G. Porter, p. 256. 
[ 247 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Cold Rolled. N.B. Cash for Old Brass 
and Copper." 

The foundry made a specialty of casting 
church bells, cannon, and heavy hardware.^ 
Many of the bells made at this time and 
later by Revere are still in existence, and 
he had cast, according to a statement in a 
letter written in 1803, no less than sixty 
church bells. The first work turned out 
by the foundry was the re-casting of an 
old bell for the New Brick Church, after- 
ward the Second Church. It bears the 
inscription : 

" The first bell cast in Boston, 1792, by 
P. Revere." 

■^ In making his plans for this venture Revere had 
occasion to correspond with Messrs. Brown and Benson, 
the proprietors of a foundry at Providence. In one of 
his letters he remarks that he " should be much obliged 
to Mr. N. Brown if he would send the Volume of Wat- 
son's Chemistry by the first opportunity." This was an 
English treatise he had long been desirous of possessing, 
and that he read it with interest and intelligence is 
evident from a letter he wrote the author. This letter 
is printed by Goss (Vol. 2, p. 534). 
[248] 



Man of Business after the War 

The King's Chapel bell, still in use, was 
made in 1816 by Revere and Son, and bears 
an inscription to that effect. It was the 
successor of a bell used since 1772, and 
cracked in tolling in 1814. " From that 
day to this," Mr. Goss appropriately com- 
ments, " its peculiarly rich tones have vi- 
brated from out the four arched windows 
of the massive tower, the walls of which 
are five feet and six inches in thickness. 
When this bell was raised to its position, 
a wit commemorated the event in the fol- 
lowing effusion: 

'^'The Chapel church, 
Left in the lurch. 
Must surely fall ; 
For church and people, 
And bell and steeple. 
Are crazy all. 
The church lives, 
The priest survives, 
With mind the same. 
Revere refounds. 
The bell resounds. 
And all is well again.' " ^ 

^ Goss, Vol. 2, p. 54-1, 
[249] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

One of the most important contracts 
which Revere secured for his foundry was 
for supplying the bolts, spikes, pumps, 
etc., for the United States frigate Consti- 
tution, — " Old Ironsides," as she later be- 
came affectionately known,^ — when she was 
built, in 1798. These supplies were made of 
malleable copper by a process perfected 
by Revere himself and upon which he ex- 
pended much time and ingenuity. " No 
man but myself in the four New England 
States," he wrote to Jacob Sheafe, naval 
agent at Portsmouth, " can melt the Cop- 
per & draw it into Spikes." To Harrison 
Gray Otis, member of Congress, he wrote 
that all coppersmiths believed that no one 
in America " could make Copper so mal- 
leable as to hammer it hot. I further 
found that it was a Secret, that lay in 
very few Breasts in England. I deter- 
mined if possible to find the Secret & have 
the pleasure to say, that after a great many 

^ Now permanently moored at the Charlestown 
(Boston) Navy Yard. 

[ 250 ] 



Man of Business after the War 

tryals and considerable expense I gained 
it." ' 

Encouraged by the success of his experi- 
ments in working malleable copper, Revere 
determined to enlarge his business, and in 
1801 he purchased the old powder-mill 
property at Canton, where he had made 
powder during the Revolution, and began 
the erection of new buildings preparatory 
to the removal of his foundry from Boston, 
though for three years he continued the 
latter in active operation. In 1802 he made 
the copper used in re-coppering the dome 
of the new State House, having equipped 
his new mill with two rollers from Eng- 
land. The State House dome required 
some six thousand feet of copper, and the 
bill amounted to $4,232. According to a 
correspondent in the Massachusetts Spy, 
November 24, 1802, whose bosom had 
swelled with patriotic pride after contem- 
plating the newly coppered dome and as- 
certaining that the job had been done by 

^ Goss, Vol. 2, pp. 546, 547. 
[251] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

Colonel Revere and Son, " the only manu- 
factory of Sheet Copper in America is in 
this State ; — and the manufacturers above- 
mentioned have now ready for delivery to 
the government of the United States 30,000 
weight of sheet copper for covering the 
bottoms of the 74 gun ships ordered some 
years since to be built.'* 

One of the ships which this writer had 
in mind was, no doubt, the Constitution, 
which was re-coppered by Revere in 1803, 
preparatory to being taken to Tripoli by 
Commodore Preble. Her log-book for 
June 26 of that year had this entry: ' 
" The carpenters gave nine cheers, which 
were answered by the seamen and calkers, 
because they had in fourteen days com- 
pleted coppering the ship with copper 
made in the States." Correspondence on 
file in the Navy Department at Washing- 
ton testifies to this copper having been 
made by Paul Revere. In one of these 
letters he suggested that some of the gov- 

^ Memorial History of Boston, Vol. 3, p. 337. 
[252] 



Man of Business after the War 

ernment vessels cruising in the Mediter- 
ranean be ordered to stop at Smyrna and 
bring home copper in ballast, and in an- 
other he says: " Our works have cost us a 
great deal of money; and we believe are 
the first & only ones in America; and our 
Copper is pronounced, by the best Judges, 
equal to the English; we will thank the 
Administrators of our Government, if they 
will give us all the encouragement we 
merit. There being no Copper mines that 
are worked to advantage in the United 
States would it not be best that all the 
old copper which comes from Government 
Vessels should be reserved to manufacture 
over again? " ^ 

In his dealings with Uncle Sam he had 
the common experience of finding that dis- 
tinguished customer somewhat slow in pay- 
ing his bills. He writes the Secretary of 
the Navy, November 27, 1803: "We beg 
leave to mention that it is more than two 
years since we have received one shilling 
^ Goss, Vol. 2, p. 567. 
[ 253 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

from Government tho we have been at 
work for them the whole time; that there 
is near $15,000 due us, besides which, should 
you agree to take our 28 & 26 ounce cop- 
per which we mentioned in our last, we shall 
be able soon to finish the whole of our con- 
tract, when there will be due to us between 
24 and $25,000. We are now. Sir, dis- 
tressed for money; and if you will be so 
kind as to put the means into M^ Brown's 
hands to supply us, you will lay us under 
very great obligations. You must be sen- 
sible that it requires a Considerable Capi- 
tal to carry on a Business the stock of 
which cannot be purchased but with Cash." ^ 
The famous gale of October 9, 1804, 
which did much damage in Boston and was 
a great event in the memory of " the oldest 
inhabitant " for two generations, blew the 
roof off Revere's Lynn Street foundry. He 
had already found it a heavy financial burden 
to maintain two establishments, and he now 
carried out what was doubtless his original 

1 Goss, Vol. 2, p. 568. 
[^54] 



Man of Business after the War 

intention, of removing the Boston plant to 
Canton. The business headquarters were, 
however, retained in Boston, and this ar- 
rangement was maintained during the 
remainder of Revere's hfe under the name 
of Paul Revere and Son, though in his later 
years the head of the firm relinquished most 
of its responsibilities to the son, Joseph 
Warren Revere. The foundry and copper- 
rolling mill turned out a miscellaneous 
product, — bells, brass cannon, roofing, 
sheathing for vessels, and copper utensils 
of various kinds; in 1809, sixteen thousand 
pounds of copper in sheets three feet wide 
by five feet long, some of which weighed 
over two hundred pounds each, were fur- 
nished Messrs. Livingston and Fulton, to 
be used in making two boilers for their 
new Hudson River steamboats.^ 

Joseph Warren Revere continued to con- 
duct the business after his father's death 
until 1828. In that year the Revere Cop- 
per Company was chartered. This corpo- 

* Goss, Vol. 2, p. 571. 
[255] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

ration was in existence and maintained 
copper works at Canton for over seventy 
years with offices in Boston and New York, 
John Revere, a son of Joseph Warren 
Revere, being for a long period at its head. 
But the evolution of industry, whose inex- 
orable laws recognize nothing sacredly invio- 
late in the sentimental aspects of business, 
found the copper-mill of Paul Revere in 
the path of progress a few years ago, and 
it fell a victim to the spirit of combination 
which dominates a commercial age, being 
absorbed by a Taunton company. 



[256] 



VII — THE DECLINING YEARS 
OF A USEFUL LIFE 

1795 - 1818 

REVERE was a man of generous social 
temperament. Versatile as a me- 
"" chanic, ingenious and industrious in 
business, deeply concerned in public affairs, 
devoted to his family, he yet had inclination 
and found time for active membership in 
numerous societies, and took a lively interest 
in the founding of an association devoted 
to charity and the encouragement of the 
mechanic arts, which flourishes to this day. 

In none of the civic activities of the time 
was he more prominent than in the affairs 
of the Masonic fraternity. One of the most 
eminent and widely known Masons of the 
Revolutionary era, he, in the language of 
a Masonic eulogist, "served his country and 
his beloved Fraternity with a spirit that 
should inspire every Brother; a spirit com- 
17 [ 257 ] 



The True Story of Paul Eevere 

posed of the three great essentials, — free- 
dom, fervency and zeal." ^ "In the Green 
Dragon Tavern," says E. Bentley Young 
in his oration at the centennial celebration 
of Columbian Lodge in 1895,^ " where he 
first saw Masonic light, he met his patri- 
otic Brethren in secrecy to devise means for 
impeding the operations of the British, then 
in possession of the city. Masonry and pa- 
triotism were identified in his person and 
in those of his compatriots who met him in 
retirement." 

Entering Masonry through St. Andrew's 
Lodge September 4, 1760, he maintained a 
zealous interest in the affairs of the frater- 
nity for the remainder of his life, filling 
the high office of Grand Master of the 
Massachusetts Grand Lodge in 1795, 1796, 
and 1797. One of the most picturesque 
ceremonials of his career, and, indeed, of 

^ G. Ellis Reed, Worshipful Master of Revere Lodge. 
Remarks at the centennial celebration of Columbian 
Lodge, 1895. Report, p. 188. 

^ Report, p. 156. 

[ 258 ] 



Declining Years 



the early years of the constitutional history 
of Massachusetts, occurred during the first 
term of his grand mastership: the laying 
of the corner-stone of the new State House 
— the " Bulfinch front " as it was called in 
later years — on Beacon Hill. The author- 
ities having requested the Masonic order to 
participate in the dedication exercises, the 
various lodges assembled in the Represent- 
atives' Hall of the Old State House on 
State Street, and, with the state officials, 
marched to the Old South Meeting-House, 
where an oration appropriate to the occa- 
sion was delivered by George Blake. These 
exercises over, the procession re-formed and 
marched to Beacon Hill.^ Arriving at the 

^ This was the Order of March as given in the 
Columbian Centinel of July 8, 1 795 : 

Independent Fusiliers, 

Martial Musick. 

Two Tollers. 

The CORNER STONE 

[On a truck, decorated with ribbons, drawn by 

15 white horses, each with a leader.] 

[259] 



( 

The True Story of Paul Eevere ' 

site of the new capitol, the stone, being 
duly squared, levelled, and plumbed. Gov- i 

Operative Masons. j 

Grand Marshall. ! 
Stewards, with Staves. 

Entered Apprentices, and Fellow-Crafts. ^■ 
Three Master-Masons, bearing the Square, Level 

and Plumb-Rule. j 
Three Stewards, bearing Corn, Wine and Oil. 

Master Masons, ■ 

Officers of Lodges, in their respective jewels. J 

Past-Masters, Royal Arch, &c. \ 

Grand Toiler. 
Band of Musick — decorated. 

Grand Stewards. ; 
Grand Deacons, with Wands. 
Grand Treasurer, and Grand Secretary. 

Past Grand Wardens. j 
Grand Senior and Junior Wardens. 

Past Deputy Grand Masters. ] 

Past Grand Masters. * 

Rev. Clergy — Brothers — 

Grand Master, attended by the Deputy-Grand \ 

Master, and Grand Stewards. I 

Deputy Grand Marshall. j 

Sheriff of Suffolk. i 

The Agents of the Commonwealth. j 

His Excellency THE GOVERNOR, \ 

Hon Lt. GOVERNOR, \ 

[ 260 ] I 



Declining Years 



ernor Samuel Adams delivered these brief 
remarks : 

" Fellow-Citizens, 

" The Representatives of the people in 
General Court assembled, did solemnly Re- 
solve, that an Edifice be erected upon this 
spot of ground for the purpose of holding 
the Public Councils of the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts. By the request of their 
Agents and Commissioners I do now lay 
the Corner- Stone. May the Superstructure 
be raised even to the top Stone without any 
untoward accident, and remain permanent 
as the everlasting mountains. May the 
principles of our excellent Constitution, 
founded in nature and in the Rights of 
Man, be ably defended here: and may the 
same principles be deeply engraven on the 
hearts of all citizens, and there be fixed, 

Adjutant-General. Quarter- Master General 

Hon. Council 

Members of Legislature — 

Clergy, and Strangers of distinction. 

[261 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

unimpaired in full vigor, till time shall be 



no more." ^ 



And Grand Master Revere for the 
Masons responded: 

"Worshipfull Brethren. I congratulate 
you on this auspicious day : — When the 
Arts and Sciences are establishing them- 
selves in our happy country, a Country 
distinguished from the rest of the World, 
by being a Government of Laws, where 
Liberty has found a safe and secure abode, 
and where her sons are determined to sup- 
port and protect her. 

" Brethren we are called this day by our 
honorable & patriotic Governor, his Excel- 
lency Samuel Adams to assist in laying the 
cornerstone of a building to be erected for 
the use of the Legislative and Executive 
branches of Government of this Common- 
wealth. May we, my Brethren, so square 
our actions thro life as to show to the 

^ Reported as here given in the Columbian Centinel, 
July 8, 1795. 

[262] 



Declining Years 



World of Mankind, that we mean to live 
within the compass of Good Citizens, that 
we wish to stand upon a level with them, 
that when we part we may be admitted 
into the Temple where Reigns Silence and 
Peace." ' 

" It is utterly impossible," helplessly 
commented the unenterprising Columbian 
Centinel, "to do justice to the scene which 
presented itself on this brilliant occasion." 
A silver plate was placed beneath the 
corner-stone bearing this inscription: 

This Corner Stone of a Building 

intended for the use of the Legislative 

and Executive branches of GOVERNMENT 

of the 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

was laid by 

His Excellency SAMUEL ADAMS Esq. 

Governor of said Commonwealth, 

Assisted by the Most Worshipful PAUL REVERE, 

Grand Master, 

and the Right Worshipful WILLIAM SCOLLAY, 

Deputy Grand Master, 

^ Family papers, Goss, Vol. 2, pp. 483, 484. 
[263] 



The True Story of Paul Severe 

The Grand Wardens and Brethren 

of the GRAND LODGE OF MASSACHUSETTS 

on the FOURTH DAY OF JULY 

AN. DOM. 1795. 

A. L. 5795. 

Being the XXth Anniversary o/" AMERICAN 

INDEPENDENCE.! 

* When Washington retired to private hfe the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts sent him a fraternal greeting 
signed by Grand Master Revere, and upon his death the 
Massachusetts Masons arranged a mock funeral parade, 
Revere being one of the pall-bearers. A memorial urn 
carried in the procession was cared for many years by 
Revere at his home. Revere, with John Warren and 
Josiah Bartlett, sent a letter on behalf of the Grand 
Lodge, dated January 11, 1800, to the widow of Wash- 
ington requesting a lock of the dead statesman's hair, 
to be kept as an " invaluable relique of the Hero and 
Patriot." The request was granted, and the memento 
has remained to this day one of the cherished posses- 
sions of the Grand Lodge, preserved in a golden urn 
made by Paul Revere. 

Those who may be interested in further details of 
Revere's Masonic activity are referred to Sidney 
Hayden's Washington and his Masonic Compeers, Alfred 
T. Chapman's Sketches from the Records of St. Andrew's 
Royal Arch Chapter of Boston, Goss' Life of Revere, 
and various occasional publications of Massachusetts 
Lodges. 

[ 264 ] 



Declining Years 



One of the most important civic enter- 
prises in the commercial history of Boston 
was the founding of the Massachusetts 
Charitable Mechanic Association in 1795, 
— an institution now venerable, but still 
pursuing a serene and honorable, if not 
always conspicuous, career in the life of 
the community. It had its origin in this 
modest notice, which appeared in the Co- 
lumbian Centinel of December 31, 1794: 



The Tradesmen, Mechanics, and 
Manufacturers of this town and vicinity, 
who keep apprentices, are desired to meet 
at the Green Dragon, on Tuesday evening 
next, at 6 o'clock, for the purpose of con- 
sulting on measures for petitioning the 
General Court, to revise and amend the 
Law respecting apprentices." 

No signature was appended to this no- 
tice, and Joseph T. Buckingham, in his 
Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Me- 
chanic Association, says ^ that a tradition 

[ 9,Q5 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

existed that " Paul Revere, — one of the 
most influential mechanics of the town, 
and one whom the others were accustomed 
to consult on matters that were deemed of 
general interest to them as a body, — was 
surprised on seeing the notice, and thought 
it rather an act of presumption in the 
anonymous author to publish it without his 
knowledge." But whatever the foundation 
for this tradition, it is certain that any 
pique which Revere may have felt because 
of a failure on the part of the authors of 
the project to take him into their confi- 
dence at its origin was not permitted by 
him to stand in the way of a hearty co- 
operation in forwarding the enterprise. 
His position as the leading mechanic of 
the town was formally recognized as soon 
as the plans for the new organization were 
fairly under way; at a meeting held at the 
Green Dragon he was chosen chairman, and 
March 11, 1795, the newspapers contained 
the following notice : ^ 

^ Buckingham's Annals, p. 5. 
[^66] 



Declining Tears 



The Mechanics of the town of 
Boston are requested to meet at Concert 
Hall/ THIS EVENING, precisely at 7 
o'clock, for the purpose of taking into 
consideration and deciding on the Report 
of their Committee, appointed on the 19th 
of January, for the purpose of drafting 
regulations for the proposed Association 
of the Mechanics of this town. As the 
subject is of prime importance, and as the 
sentiments of every one on the subject are 
desired, it is requested that a general and 
punctual attendance will be given. Those 
who have received the printed copies of the 
report are requested to bring them with 
them at the meeting. 

" PAUL REVERE, per order." 

A constitution having been drawn up and 
approved. Revere gave notice, March 24, 
that it would be ready for signing " on Sat- 

^ Concert Hall was in a building at the corner of 
Court and Hanover Streets. The Masons used it as a 
meeting place from 1754 to 1807. 
[267] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

urday next, at Mr. Ebenezer Larkin's Book- 
store in Cornhill." ^ The first person to 
sign the document was Paul Revere, Gold- 
smith, and the others, eighty-three in all, 
each signed and designated his trade, Paul 
Revere, Jr., being of the number. At a 
meeting in Concert Hall, April 16, the first 
officers were elected, Revere being chosen 
unanimously to the presidency of the as- 
sociation. He served in this capacity until 
1799, being re-elected annually. The so- 
ciety obtained a charter from the legisla- 
ture in 1806, and at the meeting for formal 
organization under the articles of incorpo- 
ration Revere was moderator. The original 
scope of the organization has been modi- 
fied by the industrial changes of a hundred 
years, but its triennial exhibitions in its 
building on Huntington Avenue, Boston, 
serve as continual reminders to the public 
of its long and honorable history. One of 
the smaller halls of " Mechanics' Building " 
is named for the first president of the as- 

^ Buckingham's Annals ^ p. 5. 
[ 268 ] 



Declining Years 



sociation, and numerous suggestions of Re- 
vere are to be found there/ 

Another corporate enterprise but of a 
more business-Hke character than the Chari- 
table Mechanic Association, in which Re- 
vere became interested at about this time, 
was the Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insur- 
ance Company. This was the first suc- 
cessful effort made in Boston to insure 
property against fire, and was undertaken 
in 1798, the company being incorporated 
by the General Court March 2 in that 
year. Paul Revere's was the first name 
in the list of incorporators, which included 
most of the prominent Bostonians of the 
period. 

In 1806 Revere was foreman of the jury 
in one of the most famous murder trials in 

^ In 1845 the association purchased the Boott estate, 
on which was erected a hotel, and on April 10, 1846, it 
was voted " that the house in Bowdoin Square, heretofore 
known as the Boott house, be called and known here- 
after as the Revere house, in honor of the late Paul 
Revere the first president of the association." 
[ 269 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

the annals of Boston/ the persons involved 
being very prominent in the political life of 
the day, and of high social connections. 

On the 4th of July, 1806, the Federahsts 
and Republicans held rival celebrations, — 
the former in Faneuil Hall, the latter in a 
tent erected at Copp's Hill. The Repub- 
lican festivities, which consisted of speech- 
making and a dinner, were preceded by a 
parade headed by the president of their 
organization, Benjamin Austin. The am- 
bassador credited from Tunis to the United 
States happened to be in town and accepted 
an invitation to attend the Copp's Hill jubi- 

^ This was not Revere's first jury service, however. 
He had served as coroner for five years, from 1796 to 
1801, his first inquest being upon the body of one 
Daniel Keller, a sailor who had committed suicide by 
drinking laudanum. "A record of this with the names 
of the jurors, together with that of forty-five other 
'Inquisitions' covering the period to Jan. 14, 1801^ 
was carefully kept in a small memorandum book. The 
original detailed bill for five of these inquests rendered 
by Revere against the County of Suffolk, amounting to 
$119.11 is in the autograph collection of Dr. John 
S. H. Fogg of South Boston." — Goss, Vol. 2, p. 589. 
[270] 



Declining Years 



lation. With his ornate Oriental costume 
and long gray beard, and accompanied by 
a retinue of attendants in gaudy Moorish 
attire, he was naturally a great curiosity to 
the populace. But he proved a drawing- 
card for the Republicans, which indirectly 
led to disastrous results. 

So great was the pressure upon the frail 
enclosure surrounding the scene of the fes- 
tivities that many persons broke in who had 
not secured tickets, and the committee in 
charge of the affair found itself afterward 
in a peck of trouble with the caterer over 
that worthy's bill for the entertainment of 
the multitude. The caterer engaged Thomas 
O. Selfridge, a lawyer of eminence and 
good standing, to sue the members of the 
committee. Selfridge was an ardent Fed- 
eralist, and Austin, the Republican leader, 
in an unguarded moment and in the pres- 
ence of witnesses in a much- frequented in- 
surance office, indiscreetly remarked that in 
his opinion the suit had been instituted by 
a federal lawyer at his own instigation. 
[271] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

This insinuating charge that he was 
prompted by unworthy political motives 
rather than by wholly professional reasons 
in behalf of his client reached Self ridge's 
ears and aroused his anger. He at once 
demanded a retraction, and Austin, con- 
fronted with the gravity of the situation, 
promptly admitted that he had been in 
error. But the explanation offered was not 
a sufficiently abject apology to satisfy the 
irate lawyer's sense of wounded honor. 
He, therefore, composed a statement and 
had it published in a newspaper of the 4th 
of August, denouncing Benjamin Austin 
as a " coward, liar and scoundrel." Austin 
put a counter statement into another paper, 
and instantly the town was in a fever of 
excitement. 

A personal encounter on sight or a re- 
sort to " the code " seemed inevitable. But 
developments took an unforeseen turn. 
Charles Austin, son of the Republican 
leader, a youth of eighteen, and still pursu- 
ing his college course at Harvard, read the 
[ 27S ] 



Declining Years 



offensive paragraph about his father the 
same day it appeared in print, and, having 
equipped himself with a stout hickory cane, 
was standing at the corner of State and 
Congress Streets not far from Selfridge's 
office in the Old State House, when, at about 
one o'clock, S el fridge appeared. The two 
met ; young Austin raised his stick and Self- 
ridge drew a pistol. The testimony was 
somewhat contradictory as to which was the 
technical aggressor, but Austin inflicted a 
smashing blow on Selfridge's head and 
Selfridge fired a fatal shot at his oppo- 
nent. Selfridge was arrested, indicted at 
the November term of the Supreme Court 
for manslaughter and put on trial De- 
cember 23. 

Paul Revere was foreman of the trial 
jury. Christopher Gore and Samuel Dex- 
ter defended the prisoner, and James Sul- 
livan — afterwards governor — and Daniel 
Davis, attorney-general and solicitor-gen- 
eral respectively, appeared for the com- 
monwealth. The trial was one of intense 
18 [ 273 ] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

dramatic interest, on account of the promi- 
nence of the parties concerned and the 
factional pohtical excitement which divided 
the town into hostile camps, while the law- 
yers on both sides were among the ablest 
and most brilliant advocates of the day. The 
circumstances of the verdict rendered by 
Revere and his eleven associates of the jury 
are thus summed up by Amory:^ "Judge 
Parker instructed the jury that if the de- 
fendant had no view but to defend his life 
and person from attack, did not purposely 
throw himself in the way of the conflict, but 
was merely pursuing his lawful vocations, 
and could not have saved himself otherwise 
than by the death of his assailant, then the 
killing was excusable homicide ; provided the 
circumstances of the attack would justify a 
reasonable apprehension of the harm he had 
a right to prevent. He thought the fact, 

^ Thomas C. Amory, Life and Writings of James 
Sullivan, Vol. 2, p. 186. See also the Memoir of Chief 
Justice Theophilus Parsons, by his son, Theophilus Par- 
sons, Jr., pp. 248 et seq. 

[ 274 ] 



Declining Years 



that the blow was first inflicted, was of 
importance to the defense. The jury de- 
Hberated fifteen minutes, and then agreed 
upon a verdict of acquittal. Whatever may 
have been the merits of the original contro- 
versy, and, it is recorded, this was the sin- 
cere subject of regret both to Mr. Self ridge 
and his friends, the verdict has been gen- 
erally considered correct, according to es- 
tablished principles of law and the particular 
evidence." 

The war of 1812, as everybody knows, 
was not popular with the ruling classes of 
eastern Massachusetts. Yet towards the 
close of the war, when Boston was threat- 
ened, either in fact or in the frightened 
imagination of the people, with a British 
invasion, and it seemed necessary to take 
defensive measures, there was a hearty re- 
sponse from the ranks of the plain citizens- 
It was proposed to erect fortifications on 
Noddle's Island (East Boston), and one 
hundred and fifty patriots, chiefly North 
[275] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

End mechanics, signed a paper ^ which 
read : — 

"Boston, Sept. 8, 1814. The subscribers. 
Mechanics of the Tov/n of Boston, to evince 
our readiness to co-operate by manual labor 
in measures for the Defence of the Town 
and Naval Arsenal, do hereby tender our 
services to His Excellency the Commander- 
in-Chief, to be directed in such manner as 
he shall consider at this eventful crisis most 
conducive to the Public Good." 

Revere was at this time in his eightieth 
year, but he was willing to perform manual 
labor for the defence of the town, and his 
name headed the pledge. He very likely 
drew it up himself and circulated it, but it 
is improbable that he was called upon in 
person to wield the spade and pick in throw- 
ing up fortifications, though many of the 

^ This paper was found among the effects of Isaac 
HaiTis, a resident of the North End of Boston, who died 
in 1868 at the age of ninety. — Memorial History of 
Boston, Vol. S, p. 310; also Massachusetts Historical 
Society Proceedings, Vol. 18 (1880-1881), p. 287. 
[276] 



Declining Years 



signers are believed to have performed 
service in connection with the building of 
" Fort Strong," as the defences were called 
(after Governor Strong). It is recorded 
that the " boys from the public and private 
schools, who were able to assist, were al- 
lowed to be absent during school hours." 

The aged patriot was now approaching 
the end of his long and useful career. For 
some time he had not engaged in the active 
management of his business but had relin- 
quished it to his son. His declining days 
were saddened and made lonely by the 
death of his second wife, who for forty-two 
years had been a faithful and affectionate 
help-meet to him and a good mother to his 
children — the children by his first wife as 
well as her own. She died June 19, 1815, 
and, like her predecessor, had borne him a 
family of eight: 

Joshua, born Dec. 7, 1774; (died 1795). 
John, born June 13, 1776; (died June 

27, 1776). 

[277] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

Joseph Warren, born April 30, 1777; 

(died Oct. 12, 1868). 
Lucy, born May 15, 1780; (died July 

9, 1780). 
Harriet, born July 20, 1782; (died 

June 27, 1860). 
John, born Dec. 25, 1783; (died March 

13, 1786). 
Maria, born July 14, 1785; (died Aug. 

22, 1847). 
John, born March 17, 1787; (died April 

30, 1847)/ 

Revere survived his wife three years. He 
passed away May 10, 1818, and among the 
death notices of the Columbian Centinel of 
the 13th the event was thus chronicled: 

" On Sunday departed this hf e PAUL 
REVERE, Esq., in the 84th year of his 
age. During his protracted life, his ac- 
tivity in business and benevolence, the vigor 
of his mind, and strength of his constitution 

See note p. 33. 

[278] 



Declining Years 



were unabated. He was one of the earliest 
and most indefatigable Patriots and Sol- 
diers of the Revolution, and has filled with 
fidelity, ability and usefulness, many im- 
portant situations in the military and civil 
service of his country, and at the head of 
valued and beneficent Institutions. Seldom 
has the tomb closed upon a life so honorable 
and useful." 

The Boston Intelligencer of May 16 was 
moved to comment: 

" In the death of Col. Revere the com- 
munity, but especially the extensive circle 
of his own connections have sustained an 
irreparable loss. Every person, whose 
whole life when considered in regard to 
the public, or to its private transactions 
has been spent in active exertions, in useful 
pursuits, in the performance of acts of dis- 
interested benevolence or general utility, 
or in the exercise of the best affections of 
the heart & most practical qualities of 
the understanding, has an undoubted title 
[ 279 ] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

to posthumous panegyric. Such was Col. 
Revere. Cool in thought, ardent in action, 
he was well adapted to form plans, and 
to carry them into successful execution, — 
both for the benefit of himself & the service 
of others. In the early scenes of our revo- 
lutionary drama, which were laid in this 
metropolis, as well as at a later period of 
its progress, his country found him one of 
her most zealous and active sons. His am- 
ple property, which his industry and per- 
severance had enabled him to amass, was 
always at the service of indigent worth, and 
open to the solicitations of friendship, or 
the claims of more intimate connections. 
His opinions upon the events and vicissi- 
tudes of life, were always sound and formed 
upon an accurate observation of nature and 
an extensive experience. His advice was 
therefore as valuable as it was readily 
prof erred to misfortune. A long life, free 
from the frequent afflictions of diseases, 
was the consequence of constant bodily ex- 
ercise, & regular habits, — and he has died 
[280] 



Declining Years 



in a good old age & all which generally at- 
tend it. 'As honors, love, obedience, troops 
of friends,' have followed him to the tomb." 

He lived in Boston all his life, and his 
various homes mark the milestones of his 
worldly successes. An humble house on 
what is now Hanover Street, opposite Clark 
and near the corner of Tileston, is supposed 
to have been his birthplace. Under date of 
November 2, 1762, he records in his day- 
book: "This day I hired a house of Doc. 
John Clark Esq. Joyning to Mr. Cocran 
at Sixteen Pound LawfuU Money a year." 
This was on what is now North Street, on 
the northerly side of Lewis Wharf. By 
1770 he had prospered sufficiently to enable 
him to take a house in the very heart of the 
"court end" of the town. North Square. 
This property he bought, paying £213 6s. 8d., 
and giving a mortgage for £160, which was 
eventually paid off. Here he hved through 
the revolutionary period; here his first wife 
died, and here he brought his second bride 
[281] 



The True Story of Paul Bevere 

a few months later; and here most of his 
children were born. Of the several houses 
that he lived in during his life this is cer- 
tainly the one most fitting to be preserved 
and to bear the distinction of being known as 
"the Revere house." Built about 1676, it 
was nearly a century old when Revere 
moved into it; and it is still standing in a 
fair condition of preservation, one of the 
now very rare types of seventeenth century 
domestic architecture in which the second 
story projects several inches over the wall 
line of the first. It is a survival both of the 
architecture of the seventeenth century and 
the American civilization of the nineteenth, 
for all about it swarm olive-skinned natives 
of sunny Italy and the exiled sons and 
daughters of Poland and Jewish Russia. 
Perhaps it is the most historic slum tenement 
in America. 

Here Revere lived until about 1788. A 
receipt for a year's rent (£36) , dated Octo- 
ber 1, 1788, would indicate that he was then 
living in a house on Charter Street, while 
[ 282 ] 




The Paul Revere House, North Square. 



Declining Years 



his address is given in a Boston directory 
for 1789 as 50 Cornhill.' About 1800 he 
purchased a house on Charter Street, possi- 
bly the same one he had been occupying as 
a tenant. It was on the southerly side of 
the street, near what is now North Street. 
It was permitted to stand until 1843, and 
some of the old inhabitants of Boston can 
doubtless still remember it, — a three-story 
brick mansion, with a garden enclosure and 
an iron fence of swinging chains. In the 
rear of the house was a spacious yard, where 
the bells were brought from the Revere 
foundry in the early days of that establish- 
ment, for testing. The removal of the 
business to Canton gave Revere an excuse 
for acquiring a country estate, so that for 
several years before his death he passed his 
summers at this rural retreat, after the 
fashion of the prosperous folk of modern 

1 This may have been a place of business only. The 
site was on what was afterward called Washington 
Street and near Court Street, probably where the Ames 
building now stands. 

[283] 



The True Story of Paul Revere 

days. He died in the Charter Street house. 
His executor, John Revere, figured his 
estate as worth practically $31,000, which 
was indeed an " ample property " for the 
simple society of the time. 

Revere was probably as pious as most 
men in public life then or since. He 
appears, at any rate, to have been a sup- 
porter of religious institutions, and tradi- 
tion credits him with having been quite a 
regular attendant at church. He early 
showed symptoms of independence, how- 
ever, and brought upon his young head a 
father's wrath by wandering away from the 
family place of worship, the " New Brick 
Church," in what is now Hanover Street, 
to the West Church, in Lynde Street, which 
in after years Cyrus A. Bartol and Charles 
Lowell made famous. The Rev. Dr. Jon- 
athan Mayhew was the pastor in Revere's 
time, and between him and the young man 
there sprang up a warm friendship. After 
his first marriage Revere became again a 
regular attendant at the New Brick Church, 
[284] 



Declining Years 



which was merged with the Second Church 
in North Square in 1779. 

In a quiet oasis in the midst of the 
rushing whirl of business in Boston's com- 
mercial section, the Old Granary Burying 
Ground silently, perpetually, challenges the 
passer-by to a contemplation of the eternal 
truths to which the immortals that lie buried 
there gave their lives. And here, keeping 
company with the dust of Peter Faneuil, 
the parents of Ben Franklin, and three 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
— John Hancock, Sam Adams, and Robert 
Treat Paine, — are the remains of Paul 
Revere, the Messenger of the Revolution. 



[285] 



INDEX 



Adams, John, his description 
of the " caucus," 43 ; writes 
of the Continental Congress, 
62 ; indorses bill of Revere 
for messenger service, 124 ; 
a member of committee which 
employs Revere to print con- 
tinental money, 135. 

Adams, Samuel, portrait of, en- 
graved by Revere, 3-2; presides 
at " Port Bill " meeting, 54 ; 
representative in Continental 
Congress, 63 ; in Lexington 
with Hancock, 75, 83, 86, 94, 
99, 105 ; indorses bill of Re- 
vere for messenger service, 
124 ; regarded as a dema- 
gogue, 140 ; attends Green 
Dragon Tavern meetings, 
141 ; chosen a member of the 
Committee of Correspond- 
ence, 162 ; his attitude toward 
the federal constitution, 239, 
240 ; officiates at laying cor- 
ner-stone of Beacon Hill 
State House, 261-263 ; burial 
in " Old Granary," 285. 

Adams, Winborn, 64. 

Ames, Fisher, 245. 

Amory, Thomas, 165. 

Appleton, Nathaniel, 162. 

Arnold, Benedict, 195. 



Ashley, Jonathan, 18. 
Attucks, Crispus, 26. 
Austin, Benjamin, 270 et seq. 
Austin, Charles, 272 et seq. 
Avery, John, 44. 



Bagaduce, 174 et seq. 
Baker, John, 7, 
Barrett, Colonel, 78, 79, 80. 
Bartlett, Josiah, 264. 
Bartol, Cyrus A. , 284. 
Bass, Henry, 45. 
Belcher, Nath., 41. 
Belknap, Jeremy, 140. 
Bennett, Eleazer, 64. 
Bennington, prisoners taken at, 

148. 
Bernard, Governor, 17. 
Bethune, George, 165. 
Blake, George, 259. 
Bliss, Jonathan, 18. 
Boston, Evacuation of, 146. 
Boston Massacre, 22-27. 
Boston Port Bill, 54. 
Boston Tea Party, 46-52. 
Boyer, Peter, 41. 
Byles, Mather, 164. 
Brackett, Joshua, 5, 32. 
British officer. Diary of, 74. 
Broadstreet, Samuel, 165. 
Brown, William, 18. 
Brown, William (Judge), 39. 

[287] 



Index 



Bullard, William, 41. 
BunkerHill, 61, 70. 
Burr, Aaron, 112. 

Caine, Major, 145. 

Caldwell, James, 26. 

Calef, John, 18, 190. 

Capen, Hopestill, 164. 

Games, Thomas J., lodges a 
complaint against Revere, 
196 ; Revere 's reply, 199 ; his 
charges, 203 ; Revere again 
writes of the charges, 213. 

Carr, Patrick, 26. 

Gary, Nathaniel, 165. 

Gastine, 174. 

Gastle Island, 198. 

Ghadwick, John, 19. 

Ghase, Thomas, 45. 

Ghesley, Alpheus, 64. 

Ghesley, Jonathan, 64. 

Ghrist Ghurch, signals dis- 
played from, 96. 

Ghurch, Benjamin, writes a 
verse for Revere's print " The 
Rescinders," 20 ; his treason, 
140-146. 

Glark, John, victim of Boston 
Massacre, 26 ; a landlord of 
Revere, 281. 

Glark, Jonas, host of Han- 
cock and Samuel Adams at 
Lexington, 76, 94, 100, 103, 
104. 

Claverly, Thomas, 152. 

Gochran, Gaptain, 67. 

Godman, Stephen, 108. 

Goffin, Shubael, 11. 

GoUier, Sir George, 189. 

Golumbian Lodge, 258. 



Gommittee of Gorrespondence, 
chooses Revere to carry news 
of " Tea Party," 51 ; Revere 
chosen a member of, 162 ; 
appointed on sub-committees, 
163, 164. 

Gommittee of Fifty-One, 56. 

Gommittee of Public Safety, au- 
thorized, 72; meeting of April 
18, 1775, 98, 105; engages 
Revere as a messenger, 119. 

Gommittee of Safety and Sup- 
plies, 77. 

Gonant, Golonel, 95. 

Gongress, Continental, Revere 
carries Suffolk Resolves to, 
61 ; Revere makes another 
trip to, 62 ; delegates selected 
to, 72 ; authorizes issue of 
money, 134. 

" Constitution," frigate, 250, 
252. 

Constitution ratified, 237. 

Cook, John, 138. 

Cook, Nicholas, 41. 

Court-martial of Dudley Sal- 
tonstall, 194. 

Gushing, T., 124. 

Grafts, Thomas, 148, 162. 

Crafts, Thomas, junior, 41. 

Crane, Thomas, 172. 

Grown Point Expedition, 4. 

Dana, Richard, 5. 
Danforth, Samuel, 164. 
Danielson, Timothy, 194. 
Dartmouth, Lord, 66. 
Davis, Benjamin, 165. 
Davis, Benjamin, junior, 165. 
Davis, Caleb, 145, 163. 



[288] 



Index 



Davis, Daniel, 273. 
Davis, Micah, 64, 65. 
Dawes, Thomas, 43. 
Dawes, William, 94, 111. 
Day, Jonathan, 41. 
Deraeritt, John, 64, 70. 
Devens, Richard, 98, 113. 
Dexter, Samuel, 273. 
Dickinson, John, 169. 

Edes and Gill, 31. 
Edson, Josiah, 19. 
Edwards, Thomas, 164. 
Erving, John, 165. 
Evacuation of Boston, 146. 
Eve, Oswell, 168. 

Faneuil, Peter, 285. 

Farley, M., 124, 193. 

Federal constitution ratified, 
237. 

Fields, Joseph, 45. 

Ford, Paul Leicester, 22. 

Fort George, 174. 

Fort Griswold, 195. 

Fort Pownall, 190. 

Fort Strong, 277. 

Fort William, 148, 158, 196. 

Fort William and Mary, assault 
on, 63-68. 

Fosdick, Thomas, 5. 

Fosdick, Nathaniel, 5. 

Foster, Chillings worth, 19. 

Foster, Jed'h, 124. 

Fowle, Jacob, 18. 

Franklin, Benjamin, member of 
committee contracting with 
Revere for printing bills of 
credit, 135 ; burial place, 285. 

Frye, Peter, 18. 



19 



[289] 



Gage, General, on the night 
of April 18, 1775, 82, 84-86 ; 
his wife's connection with 
the patriots' cause, 86-89; 
desists from building forti- 
fications, 130; confers with 
Dr. Benjamin Church, 145; 
Committee of Correspond- 
ence passes vote concerning, 
163. 

Gerrish, Joseph, 124. 

Gerry, Elbridge, 239. 

Gore, Christopher, 273. 

Grand jurors, protest of, 36-42. 

Gray, Samuel, 26. 

Gray, Winthrop, 154. 

Green Dragon Tavern, meeting- 
place of clubs and caucuses, 
73, 140 ; mechanics meet at, 
and pass resolutions in behalf 
of the federal constitution, 
241-242; masonic lodge meets 
at, 258; Massachusetts Chari- 
table Mechanic Association 
formed at, 265, ^QQ. 

Green, Richard, 165. 

Greenleaf, B., 124. 

Griffin, John, 65. 

Gunpowder, manufacture of, 
165-172. 

Hall, Joseph, 41. 

Hancock, Eben, 41. 

Hancock, John, Revere en- 
graves portrait of, 32 ; at Lex- 
ington with Samuel Adams, 
75-77, 94, 99, 105, 106; 
anecdote of his courtship of 
Dorothy Quincy, 109-113; 
his papers preserved by Re- 



Index 



vere at battle of Lexington, 
118 ; attends meetings at the 
"Green Dragon," 141; a 
member of Committee of 
Correspondence, 162 ; at 
Philadelphia, 168 ; approves 
Revere's acquittal by court- 
martial, 217 ; his attitude 
toward the federal constitu- 
tion, 239; his burial place, 
285. 

Hancock, Thomas, 109, 

Heath, General, 148. 

Hichborn, Deborah, 3. 

Hillsborough, Lord, his letter 
to Governor Bernard, 17, 18 ; 
dedication of a print by Re- 
vere to, 30. 

Hitchburne, Thomas, 163. 

Hobart, Samuel, 41. 

Holton, S., 124. 

Howe, General, 163. 

Hubbard, Daniel, 164. 

Hutchinson, Edward, 164. 

Hutchinson, Foster, 39. 

Hutchinson, Governor, 163. 



IvERs, James, 41. 

Jackson, William, 165. 
Jernigan, William, 19. 
Jones, Joseph, 41. 

Kast, Thomas, 165. 
King's Chapel, 249. 
Kollock, Lemuel, 41. 

Lamb, John, 53, 56, 14T. 
Lambert, Serenne, 1. 
Langdon, Captain, 65. 



Larkin, Deacon, 95. 

Lewis Wharf, 281. 

Lexington, Battle of, 105, 119, 
143, 146. 

Liberty Tree, 244. 

Little, Moses, 193. 

Lloyd, James, 164. 

Lovell, Solomon, takes com- 
mand of land forces in Penob- 
scot expedition, 175; unable 
to reduce the enemy, 179 ; 
his course at Bagaduce, 183- 
188, 190-197; his descrip- 
tion of the rout, 190 ; Revere's 
orders to obey, 206. 

Lowell, Charles, 284. 

Ludlow, John, 58. 

Lush, George, 164. 



Mackey, William, 163. 

McLean, Francis, 173. 

Magabagaduce, 199. {See also 
Bagaduce.) 

Manufactory House, 27. 

Marshall, Thomas, 162. 

Massachusetts Charitable Me- 
chanic Association, 265. 

Massachusetts Grand Lodge, 
258. 

Massachusetts Mutual Fire 
Company, 269. 

Mather, Samuel, 34. 

Mathes, Benjamin, 65. 

Maulmon, Anne, 2. 

Maverick, Samuel, 26. 

Mayhew, Jonathan, 284. 

Mayhew, Mathew, 19. 

Melville, Thomas, 154. 

Mitchell, Jonathan, 209. 
I Mitchell, Major, 115. 

[ 290 ] 



Index 



Monk, Christopher, 26. 
Monroe, William, his deposi- 
tion, 103. 
Morris, Robert, 168, 169. 
Morton, Perez, 8. 

New Brick Church, Revere 
casts bell for, 248; Revere 
an attendant at, 284. 

New York, Revere's trip to, 51. 

Newell, Thomas, 46, 56. 

Noddle's Island, fortified, 275. 

North End caucus, 42, 47. 

Norwood, Ebenezer, 164. 

Old Granary Burial Ground, 

285. 
" Old Ironsides," 250, 252. 
Old South Meeting-House, 259. 
Oliver, Peter, 38. 
Orne, A., 168. 
Orne, Sarah, 4, 33. 
Osgood, Samuel, 193. 
Otis, Harrison Gray, 250. 
Otis, James, 124. 



Paine, Robert Treat, 285. 
Palmer, J., 124. 
Parker, David, 165. 
Parks, Wareham, 216. 
Pelham, Henry, 22-24. 
Penobscot Bay, Expedition 

173 et seq. 
Percy, Lord, 84, 85. 
Perkins, James, 165, 
Philadelphia, Revere's trips 

66, 62. 
Phillips, Benjamin, 164. 
Phillips, Isaac, 163. 
PhiUps, Turner, 154. 



Pickering, Thomas, 65. 

Plimpton, Henry, 41. 

Plympton, Deacon, 79. 

Pool, Joseph, 41. 

Port bill, Boston, 54. 

Portsmouth, Revere's trip to, 
63. 

Powell, William, 163. 

Pratt, Thomas, 41. 

Prescott, Colonel, 78. 

Prescott, James, 193. 

Price, Captain, 143. 

Proctor, Captain, 164. 

Proctor, Edward, 212. 

Province House, 82. 

Provincial Congress organized 
with Hancock as president, 
72 ; in session at Concord, 76 ; 
authorizes issue of securities, 
136 ; Dr. Church a member 
of, 140 ; report to, relative to 
gunpowder manufacture, 165. 

Pulling, John, 163, 164. 

QuiNCY, Dorothy, 103, 108-113. 



Rand, Isaac, junior, 164. 

Reed, G. EUis, 258. 

Remick, C, 23. 

Rescinders, The, 16-22. 

Revere, Deborah, 33. 
to. Revere, EHzabeth, 33. 

Revere, Frances, 33. 

Revere, Harriet, 278. 

Revere, Izanna, 33. 
to. Revere, John, 256, 278. 

Revere, Joseph Warren, 
278. 

Revere, Joshua, 277. 

Revere, Lucy, 278. 

[291] 



256, 



Index 



Revere, Maria, 278. 

Revere, Mary, 33. 

Revere, Paul, his birth, 1 ; first 
miUtary experience, 4; mar- 
riage to Sarah Orne, 4 ; fined 
for assault, 5 ; practises den- 
tistry, 6 ; becomes a carica- 
turist, 9 ; charged by Henry 
Pelham with dishonorable 
action, 23; death of first wife, 
33 ; marriage to Rachel 
Walker, 34 ; serves on town 
committees, 36 ; declines to 
serve as a grand juror, 36 ; a 
" Son of Liberty," 42 ; mem- 
ber of " Boston Tea Party," 
46-32 ; makes a trip to New 
York, 31, to Philadelphia, 
56, 60, 62, to Portsmouth, 
63 ; ride of April 16, 1775, 73 ; 
prepares for ride of April 18, 
93 ; his narrative of April 18- 
19, 93-93, 111-119; engaged 
as a messenger by the Com- 
mittee of Safety, 119 ; renders 
bill for messenger service, 121, 
letters to his wife, 126, 133 ; 
letter from John Rivoire, 129- 
133 ; engraves continental 
currency, 133 ; engraves state 
seal, 139 ; exposes Dr. Ben- 
jamin Church, 140-146 ; sta- 
tioned at Fort William, 
148 ; expedition to Worcester, 
148 ; presides at court-martial, 
132 ; expedition to Rhode 
Island, 133 ; signs a " round- 
robin," 134 ; in command at 
Fort William, 138; a member 
of the Committee of Corre- 



spondence, 162 ; investigates 
powder-mill at Philadelphia, 
166-171 ; takes charge of 
Canton mill, 171 ; ordered to 
the Penobscot, 173 ; arrested, 
198 ; charges against, 203- 
204; vindicated, 217; corre- 
spondence with Mathias and 
John Rivoire, 218-236 ; retires 
from the army, 236; heads 
demonstration for the con- 
stitution, 240-244 ; opens 
hardware and jewelry shop, 
244 ; applies for government 
office, 243-247 ; opens a bell 
and cannon foundry, 247 ; 
re-coppers State House dome, 
231 ; re-coppers " Old Iron- 
sides," 232 ; furnishes copper 
for Hudson River steamboats, 
255 ; enters Masonry, 238 ; 
founds Massachusetts Char- 
itable Mechanic Association, 
263-268; member of the 
Massachusetts Mutual Fire 
Insurance Company, 269 ; 
foreman of jury in Selfridge 
murder case, 273 ; volunteers 
for defence of Boston in 1814, 
276 ; death of second wife, 
277 ; children by second wife, 
277, 278; death, 278; his 
homes, 281-284 ; burial place, 
283. 
Revere, Paul, junior, birth, 33 ; 
letter from father, 127; com- 
missioned a lieutenant, 147 ; 
accompanies his father on 
Rhode Island expedition, 
133. 



[292] 



Index 



Revere, Sarah, 33. 

Revere House, 269. 

Rhode Island, Expedition to, 
152, 155. 

Richardson, Moses, 41. 

Rivington, James, 32. 

Ri voire, ApoUos, 1-3. 

Rivoire, Isaac, 1. 

Ri voire, Jean, 1. 

Rivoire, John, letter to, from 
Paul Revere, 129 ; letterfrom, 
to Paul Revere, 220 ; an " im- 
perialist," 224 ; Mathias Ri- 
voire writes to, 233. 

Rivoire, Magdelaine, 1. 

Rivoire, Mathias, writes to John 
Rivoire, 132 ; Paul Revere 
gets letters from, 226 ; writes 
to John Rivoire, 233. 

Rivoire, Paul, of Philadelphia, 
232. 

Rivoire, William, 131. 

Root, Joseph, 18. 

" Round-robin," 153. 

Ruggles, Timothy, 19. 

St. Andrew's Lodge, 258. 

Salem, North Bridge, 68. 

Saltonstall, Dudley, placed in 
command of fleet ordered to 
the Penobscot, 176 ; is indis- 
posed to take the offensive, 
178, 181 ; his pusillanimous 
conduct, 184 ; relations with 
General Lovell, 186, 187 ; 
warrant for court-martial of, 
194. 

Saltonstall, Richard, 18. 

Sayward, Jonathan, 18. 

Scannel, Alexander, 65. 



Scott, Mrs. (nee Dorothy 
Quincy), 108-113. 

Second Church, Revere cast 
bell for, 248 ; merged into 
New Brick Church, 285. 

Selfridge, Thomas O. , 271 et seq. 

Sever, W., 124, 194. 

Sheafe, Jacob, 250. 

Signal lanterns. The, 93-97. 

Small, Isaac, 65. 

Small, Benjamin, 65. 

Smith, John, 45. 

Snider, Christopher, 28. 

" Sons of Liberty," influence 
of, 42 ; notify Portsmouth 
patriots of reinforcements for 
Fort William and Mary, 64 ; 
meetings, 73 ; viewed with 
apprehension, 140; fail to en- 
list in the army, 147, 148. 

Southard, Caleb, 152. 

Spencer, John, 64. 

Spooner, W., 124. 

Stamp Act, 9-11, 12-16. 

Stark, General, 148, 

State House, 251, 259-264. 

Suff'olk Resolves, 61. 

Sullivan, General, Revere stops 
at house of, 64 ; Amory's life 
of, quoted, 70 ; reinforced in 
Rhode Island by Paul Revere, 
155. 

Sumner, WiUiamH., 8, 109, 110. 



Taylor, Eldad, 124. 
" Tea Party," Boston, 46-52. 
Thomas, Joshua, 216, 217. 
Thompson, Ebenezer, 64. 
Thompson, William, 41. 
Titcomb, Jonathan, 193. 

[293] 



Index 



Todd, Captain, quotes General 
Lovell in criticism of Revere, 
196 ; Revere refuses to obey 
his orders, 197 ; Revere's 
complaint of persecution by, 
200; his complaint against 
Revere, 202. 

Todd, William, 154. 

Trott, George, 45. 

Tryon, Governor, 52. 

Tudor, William, 212. 

Underwood, James, 65. 
Union Club, 43. 
Upham, Abijah, 41. 

Vardon, Daniel, 235. 

*' Views " of the town of Bos- 
ton, 29. 

Votes of Committees of Safety 
and Supplies, 78-81. 

Wadsworth, Peleg, second in 
command of land forces on 
Penobscot expedition, 175 ; 
erects a land battery, 184; 
exonerated, 194 ; his orders 
disobeyed by Revere, 197, 
204, 216 ; Revere criticised 
for disputing orders of, 208. 

Walker, Rachel, 34, 277. 

Wall, Patrick, 164. 

Ward, Artemas, president of 
court of inquiry into Penob- 
scot expedition, 194 ; Revere 
appeals to, 201. 

Warren, John, 264. 

Warren, Joseph, dental work 
for, done by Revere, 8 ; calls 
"Port Bill" meeting, 54; 



chooses Revere to carry Suf- 
folk Resolves to Philadel- 
phia, 60 ; sends letters by 
Revere to Philadelphia, 63 ; 
despatches Revere to Lex- 
ington, April 16, 75 ; and on 
the night of April 18, 1775, 
89, 101, 107, 109; his home, 
94 ; engages Revere as per- 
manent messenger for Com- 
mittee of Safety, 119 ; meets 
with Patriots at the " Green 
Dragon," 141 ; questions Dr. 
Church, 144. 

Washington, George, Revere 
appointed on a committee to 
wait upon, 162 ; referred to by 
Revere in his letter to Ma- 
thias Rivoire, 220 ; fraternal 
greeting to, from the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts, 264. 

Waters, Josiah, 83. 

Welles, Henry, 45. 

WendeU, OUver, 162. 

Wentworth, Sir John, 66. 

West Church, Revere attends, 
284. 

Wheeler, Abraham, 41. 

Whiteworth, Charles, 165. 

Whitworth, Miles, 165. 

Willet, Joseph, 41. 

Williams, Israel, 18. 

WiUiams, Robert, 41. 

Winthrop, J., 124. 

Worcester, Expedition to, 148- 
152. 

Young, E. Bentley, 258. 
Young, Thomas, 27, 56. 



[294] 




Paul Revere. 

From the Portrait by Gilbert Stuart. 



i 1959 



